HER  FRITH 


THE  SACK  OF   MONTE  CAIILO 


Bdventure  of 


As  narrated   by  Vincent  Blacker,  Esq. 
Lieutenant  H.M.'s  East  -  shire  Militia 


WALTER  FRITH 

AUTHOR  OF  "  IN  SKAKCH  OF  QUIET  " 


Quo  timoris  minus  est,  eo  minus  est  Periculi 

Livv,  xii.,  5 


HARPER   &   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 
NEW   YOKK   AND   LONDON 

1898 


BY   WALTER   FRITH. 


IN  SEARCH  OF  QUIET.    A  Country  Journal,  May 
to  July.     Post  Svo,  Cloth,  $1  25. 

A  very  entertaining  book,  written  in  a  very  entertain 
ing  style. — Cincinnati  Commercial-Gazette. 

A  bnok  which  will  enchain  the  attention  of  the  reader 
from  beginning  to  end. — Boston  Advertiser. 


NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON  : 
HARPER  &   BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS. 


Copyright,  1897,  by  HAIIPKK  &  BROTHERS. 

All  rij/ktt  reserved. 


TO 

MRS.  F.  W.  SHARON 

IN    RECOI.LKCTION    OF    MANY    HAPPY    HOURS    IN 

NEW  YORK,  tiTRETAT,  AND  PARIS 

London,  October,  1897 


2135593 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

Some  Slight  Explanation — Objects  of  the  Expedition 
— Love  the  Promoter — Lucy  Thatcher — Her  Por 
trait  by  Lamplight Page  1 

CHAPTER  II 

"The  French  Horn" — Mabel  Harker  :  My  Unfortu 
nate  Engagement  to  Her — Mr.  Crage  and  Wharton 
Park  . 7 

CHAPTER  III 

I  Continue  to  Keep  Out  of  Mabel  Harker's  Way  and 
Go  to  Goring — Return  to  "The  French  Horn  "- 
Wanderings  with  Lucy — Mr.  Crage  Rehearses  His 
Own  Funeral 17 

CHAPTER  IV 

I  am  Free  of  Mabel  Harker— Return  to  "The  French 
Horn" — Disastrous  Interference  of  Harold  Forsyth 
in  My  Affairs 25 

CHAPTER  V 

Anglesey  Lodge — My  Interview  with  Lucy  in  Ken 
sington  Gardens  —  Not  so  Satisfactory  as  I  could 
Desire  .  29 


CHAPTER  VI 

Early  Difficulties — I  Fail  to  Persuade  the  Honorable 
Edgar  Fanshawc,  the  Reverend  Percy  Blyth,  and 
Mr.  Parker  White,  M.P.,  to  Join  our  Monte  Carlo 
Party Page  37 

CHAPTER  VII 

I  Interview  Mr.  Brcntin — His  Sympathy  and  Interest 
— Sir  Anthony  Hipkins  and  the  Yacht  Amaranth 
— We  Determine  to  Look  Over  It 47 

CHAPTER  VIII 

We  Go  to  Ryde — The  Amaranth — Accidental  Meeting 
with  Arthur  Masters  and  His  Lady  Friend — I  En 
roll  Him  Among  Us,  Provisionally — We  Decide  to 
Purchase  the  Yacht GO 

CHAPTER  IX 

My  Sister's  Suspicions  —  Heroes  of  The  Aryo —  My 
Sister  Determines  to  Come  with  Us  as  Chaperon  to 
Miss  Rybot 70 

CHAPTER  X 

Mr.  Bren tin's  Indiscretion — Lucy  and  I  Make  It  Up — 
Bailey  Thompson  Appears  in  Church — On  Christ 
mas  Day  we  Hold  a  Council  of  War 77 

CHAPTER  XI 

Mr.  Bailey  Thompson  Gives  us  His  Ingenious  Advice 
— We  are  Fools  enough  to  Trust  Him — Misplaced 
Confidence 87 

CHAPTER  XII 

Monte  Carlo — Mr.  Van  Ginkel's  Yacht  Saratoga — We 
Prospect — Fortunate  Discovery  of  the  Point  of  At 
tack — First  Visit  to  the  Rooms  .  95 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Mrs.  Wingliam  and  Teddy  Parsons— He  Foolishly 
Confides  in  Her — I  Make  a  Similar  Mistake  .  Page  103 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Arrival  of  the  Amaranth — All  Well  on  Board — Their 
First  Experience  of  the  Rooms 112 

CHAPTER  XV 

Influence  of  Climate  on  Adventure — Unexpected  Ar 
rival  of  Lucy — Her  Revelations — Danger  Ahead  .  118 

CHAPTER  XVI 

Council  of  War — Captain  Evans's  Decision— I  Go  to 
the  Rooms  and  Confide  in  My  Sister 127 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Enter  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson — Van  Ginkel  Stands  by 
Us — We  Show  Thompson  Round  and  Explain  De 
tails — Teddy  Parsons's  Alarm 136 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
Exit  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson     .  146 

CHAPTER  XIX 

The  Great  Night— Dinner  at  the  "  Hotel  de  Paris  "- 
A  Last  Look  Round — The  Sack  and  Its  Incidents- 
Flight  151 

CHAPTER  XX 

We  Discover  Teddy  Parsons  is  Left  Behind  —  I 
Make  Up  My  Mind — To  the  Rescue  ! — Unmanly 
Conduct  of  the  Others — I  Go  Alone — Disguise— 
The  Garde  Champetre 171 


CHAPTER  XXI 

In  My  Disguise  I  am  Mistaken  for  Lord  B. — A  Club 
Acquaintance  —  Teddy  at  the  Law  Courts  —  Mrs. 
Wingham — The  Defence  and  The  Acquittal— We 
Bolt Page  185 

CHAPTER  XXII 

Our  Flight  to  Venice  —  Thence  to  Athens  —  We  all 
Meet  on  the  Acropolis — Reappearance  of  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson  ! — Again  \ve  Manage  to  Put  Him  Off  the 
Scent 202 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

We  Arrive  Safe  in  London  and  Go  to  Medworth  Square 
— Back  at  "The  French  Horn" — ±sews  at  Last  of 
the  Amaranth — I  Interview  Mr.  Crage  and  Find 
Him  111 219 

CHAPTER  XXIV 

Arrival  of  Brentin  —  My  Wedding-day  —  We  Go  to 
Wharton — Bailey  Thompson  and  Cochefort  Follow 
Us— We  Finally  Defeat  Them  Both 230 


CONCLUSION .243 


THE  SACK  OF  MONTE  CAKLO 


"/  don't  say  that  it  is  possible ;   I  only  affirm  it  to  lie  true." 


CHAPTER   I 

SOME  SLIGHT  EXPLANATION— OBJECTS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION 
— LOVE  THE  PROMOTER — LUCY  THATCHER — HER  POR 
TRAIT  BY  LAMPLIGHT 

THE  idea  occurred  to  me,  quite  unexpected 
ly  and  unsought  for,  early  one  morning  in  bed; 
and,  as  ideas  of  such  magnitude  are  valuable  and 
scarce  (at  any  rate,  with  me),  it  was  not  long  be 
fore  I  determined  to  try  and  realize  it. 

The  expedition  was  so  successful,  and  we  got, 
on  the  whole,  so  clear  and  clean  away  with  the 
swag,  or,  as  Mr.  Julius  C.  Brentin,  our  esteemed 
American  collector  at  cur,  called  it,  "  the  boodle," 
that,  for  my  part,  there  I  should  have  been  per 
fectly  content  to  let  the  affair  rest ;  but,  the  fact 
is,  so  many  of  my  friends  have  taken  upon  them 
selves  to  doubt  whether  we  really  did  it  at  all,  and 
the  Monte  Carlo  authorities  from  the  very  first 
so  cunningly  managed  to  suppress  all  details  (with 
their  subsidized  press),  that  I  feel  it  due  to  us  all 


to  try  and  write  the  adventure  out;  since  I  know 
very  well  how,  with  most,  seeing  in  print  is  be 
lieving. 

Briefly,  then,  my  idea  was  to  sack  or  raid  the 
gambling-tables  at  Monte  Carlo,  that  highly  no 
torious  cloaca  maxima  for  all  the  scum  of  Eu 
rope,  which  there  gutters  and  gushes  forth  into 
the  sapphire  and  tideless  Mediterranean.  I  had 
worked  details  out  for  myself,  and  believed  that, 
what  with  the  money  on  the  tables  and  the  re 
serve  in  the  vaults,  there  could  not  be  much 
short  of  £200,000  on  the  Casino  premises,  a  sum 
as  much  worth  making  a  dash  for,  it  seemed  to 
me,  as  Spanish  plate-ships  to  Drake  or  Ealeigh. 
ISTor  did  it  seem  likely  we  should  have  to  do 
much  fighting  to  secure  it ;  for  all  the  author 
ities  I  consulted  assured  me  the  place  was  by 
no  means  a  Gibraltar,  and,  in  fact,  that  half  a 
dozen  resolute  gentlemen  with  revolvers  and  a 
swift  steam-yacht  waiting  in  the  harbor  would 
be  more  than  enough  to  do  the  trick  and  clean 
the  place  out ;  which  was  pretty  much  what  we 
found. 

As  for  the  morality  of  the  affair,  I  confess  that 
never  in  the  least  troubled  me — never  once.  One 
puts  morality  on  one  side  when  dealing  with  a 
gaming  -  establishment,  and  to  raid  the  place 
seemed  to  me  just  as  reasonable  and  fair  as  to 
go  there  with  a  system,  besides  being  likely  to 
be  a  good  deal  more  profitable.  And  since  the 
objects  to  which  we  destined  the  money  were  in 
the  main  charitable,  I  soon  came  to  regard  the 
expedition  strictly  in  pios  usus  (as  lawyers  say), 


and  hope  and  believe  the  public  will  regard  it  in 
that  light  too. 

Let  me  say  right  here — to  quote  Mr.  Brentin 
again — that  not  one  of  us  touched  one  single  red 
cent  of  the  large  amount  we  so  fortunately  se 
cured,  but  that  it  was  all  expended  for  the  pur 
poses  (in  the  main,  as  I  say,  charitable)  for  which 
we  had  always  intended  it  —  with  the  single  ex 
ception  of  a  necklet  of  napoleons  I  had  made  for 
the  fat  little  neck  of  my  enchanting  niece  Mollie, 
which  she  always  wears  at  parties,  and  keeps  to 
this  day  in  an  old  French  plum-box,  along  with 
her  beads  and  bangles  and  a  small  holy  ring  I 
once  brought  her  from  Eome  ;  being  amazingly 
fond  of  all  sorts  of  bedizenments,  as  most  female 
children  are. 

Mollie,  therefore,  was  the  only  person  who 
really  had  any  of  the  swag,  or  boodle  ;  though,  of 
course,  she  doesn't  know  it,  and  thinks  it  was 
properly  won  at  play.  For  as  for  Bob  Hines, 
who  had  some  for  the  new  gymnasium  and  swim 
ming-bath  at  his  boys'  school  at  Folkestone  ;  and 
Mr.  Thatcher  (my  dear  wife  Lucy's  father),  who 
got  his  old  family  estate,  Wharton  Park,  back  ; 
and  the  hospitals,  convalescent  homes,  and  sana- 
toriums,  which  all  shared  alike  ;  and  Teddy  Par 
sons,  of  my  militia,  who  had  the  bill  paid  off  that 
was  worrying  him  —  that  was  all  in  the  original 
scheme,  and  all  went  to  form  the  well-understood 
reasons  for  our  undertaking  the  expedition ;  with 
out  which  inducements,  indeed,  it  would  ncYer 
even  have  started. 

So  if,  after  this  clear  denial  in  print,  the  pub- 


lie  still  choose  to  fancy  anything  has  stuck  to 
my  fingers,  all  I  can  ask  them  in  fairness  to 
do  is  to  come  to  our  flat  in  Victoria  Street  any 
morning  between  twelve  and  two,  when  they  can 
see  the  accounts  and  receipts  for  themselves,  all 
in  order  and  properly  audited  by  Messrs.  Fitch 
&  Black,  the  eminent  accountants  of  Lothbury, 
E.  C.  .  .  . 

Now,  they  say  love  is  at  the  bottom  of  most 
of  the  affairs  and  enterprises  of  the  world,  and 
so  I  believe  it  mostly  is.  At  all  events,  I  don't 
fancy  I  should  have  undertaken,  or,  at  any  rate, 
been  so  prominent  in  this  Monte  Carlo  affair, 
if  I  hadn't  at  the  time  been  so  deeply  in  love 
with  Lucy,  and  correspondingly  anxious  to  get 
her  father's  property  back  for  them  at  Wharton 
Park.  It  is  situate  near  Nesshaven,  on  the 
Essex  coast ;  which,  though  to  many  it  may 
not  be  a  particularly  attractive  part  of  the  coun 
try,  is  to  me  forever  sacred  as  the  spot  where  I 
first  met  the  dear  girl  who  is  now  my  wife, 
coming  back  so  rosily  from  her  morning  bath, 
through  the  whin  and  the  sand,  from  the  long, 
flat  shore  and  the  idle  sea,  carrying  her  own 
damp  towel  back  to  her  father's  inn,  "The 
French  Horn." 

I  can  see  her  now  as  I  saw  her  then,  on  that 
warm  September  morning  eighteen  months  ago  ; 
sea  and  sky  and  monotonous  Essex  land  all 
bathed  in  hazy  sunshine,  the  whins  still  glisten 
ing  with  the  morning  mist,  which  at  that  time 
of  the  year  lies  heavily  till  the  sun  at  mid-day 
warms  them  dry  and  sets  the  seed-cases  explod- 


ing  like  Prince-Rupert  drops — I  can  see  her,  I 
say,  come  towards  me  along  the  coast-guard 
path,  round  the  pole  that  sticks  up  to  mark  it, 
and  towards  the  wooden  bridge  that  crosses  one 
of  the  dikes. 

If  any  line  of  that  sweet  face  were  faint  in  my 
memory,  I  have  only  to  look  across  at  her  now, 
as  she  sits  sewing  under  the  lamp  as  I  write, 
for  all  its  charm  and  perfection  to  be  present  as 
first  I  saw  it.  I  have  only  to  put  a  straw  hat  on 
the  pretty,  rough,  dark  hair,  which  in  sunshine 
gleams  with  the  bronze  of  chestnut,  give  her  a 
freckle  or  two  011  the  low,  white  forehead,  color 
her  round  cheek  a  little  more  delicately  rose-leaf, 
and  there  she  is — not  forgetting  to  take  away  the 
wedding-ring  ! — as  she  passed  me  on  the  Ness- 
haven  golf-links  that  hazy  September  morning 
eighteen  months  ago.  There  is  the  straight  nose, 
the  short  upper  lip,  the  pure,  fresh  mouth,  the 
plump  and  rounded  chin,  and  the  soft,  pink  lips 
that  part  so  readily  with  a  smile  and  show  the 
beautiful  white  teeth,  white  as  the  youngest 
hazel-nuts.  .  .  . 

Lucy  felt  my  eyes  were  upon  her,  and  looked 
up  at  me  and  smiled,  with  something  of  a  blush, 
for  she  blushes  very  readily.  She  saw  me  still 
looking  longingly,  the  invitation  in  my  eyes,  and 
after  a  moment's  hesitation  (for,  though  we  have 
been  married  nearly  six  months,  she  still  is  shy) 
she  put  down  her  sewing  and  came  to  me  at  my 
writing-table.  She  bent  over  me  and  put  her 
arms  round  my  neck,  her  warm  cheek  against 
mine.  Her  soft  lips  kissed  me  ;  I  felt  the  ten- 


der,  loving  palpitation  of  her  bosom  as  I  bent 
my  head  back.  Our  sitting-room  seemed  full  of 
silence,  happy  and  melodious  silence,  while  from 
outside  in  Victoria  Street  I  head  the  jingle  of  a 
passing  cab.  .  .  . 


CHAPTER  II 

"THE  FRENCH  HORN"  —  MABEL  HARKER,  MY  UNFORTU 
NATE  ENGAGEMENT  TO  HER — MR.  CRAGE  AND  WHARTON 
PARK 

THOUGH  the  idea  to  sack  Monte  Carlo  did  not 
occur  to  me  till  late  in  the  year  (in  the  September 
of  which  I  first  met  Lucy  Thatcher),  I  must  first 
say  something  of  my  going  down  to  Nesshaven 
in  June,  and  the  events  which  led  to  my  being  in 
u  position  to  undertake  an  affair  of  such  nerve 
and  magnitude. 

Lucy  thought  I  should  take  readers  straight  to 
Monte  Carlo,  confining  myself  to  that  part  of  the 
work  only  ;  but,  after  talking  it  over,  she  agrees 
with  me  now  that  the  adventure  must  be  led  up 
to  in  the  natural  way  it  really  was  or  the  public 
won't  believe  in  it,  after  all,  and  I  shall  have  all 
my  pains  for  nothing.  So  that's  what  I  shall  do, 
in  the  shortest  and  best  way  I  can  ;  promising, 
like  the  esteemed  old  circus-rider  Ducrow,  as 
soon  as  possible  to  "  cut  the  cackle  and  come  to 
the  'osses." 

Well,  then,  it  was  towards  the  middle  of  June 
when  I  joined  the  golf  club  at  Nesshaven,  just  af 
ter  my  militia-training  month  was  over.  I  was 
introduced  by  Harold  Forsyth  (one  of  our  Monte 


Carlo  band  later,  and  one  of  the  stanchest  of 
them),  who  had  the  golf  fever  very  badly,  and,  I 
must  say,  was  beginning  to  make  himself  rather 
a  bore  with  it. 

He  and  I  went  down  from  Liverpool  Street 
and  stayed  at  "  The  French  Horn,"  the  inn  kept 
by  Mr.  Thatcher,  Lucy's  father ;  and  after  For- 
syth  had  introduced  me  to  the  club  and  shown 
me  round  the  links,  he  went  back  to  his  regi 
ment,  the  "  Devon  Borderers/'  then  stationed  at 
Colchester,  very  angry  and  complaining,  as  sol 
diers  mostly  are  when  obliged  to  do  any  work. 
I  remained  behind,  not  that  I  had  yet  seen  Lucy, 
but  rather  to  keep  out  of  Mabel  Harker's  way — 
the  young  lady  to  whom  (as  Lucy  knows)  I  hap 
pened,  much  against  my  will,  to  be  at  that  time 
unfortunately  engaged  to  be  married. 

My  first  visit  to  "The  French  Horn"  lasted 
three  weeks,  during  which  time  I  manfully  held 
my  ground,  though  heavily  bombarded  by  Mabel's 
letters,  regularly  discharged  thrice  a  week  from 
her  aunt's  house  in  Clifton  Gardens  at  Folkestone. 
At  last,  as  Mabel  came  to  stay  at  her  sister's  in 
the  Regent's  Park  (on  purpose,  I  believe),  I  was 
obliged  to  go  up  to  town  for  ten  days,  and  there 
passed  a  sad  time  with  her  at  the  University 
match,  Henley,  and  the  Eton  and  Harrow ;  at 
which  noted  places  of  amusement  and  relaxation 
I  cannot  help  thinking  I  was  the  most  unhappy 
visitor,  though,  to  be  sure,  I  tried  hard  not  to 
show  it. 

But  it  was  dreadful  when  I  got  back  to  my 
rooms  in  Little  St.  James's  Street  and  attempted 


sleep ;  for  I  really  think  that  not  being  in  love 
with  the  person  you  have  bound  yourself  to  mar 
ry  keeps  more  men  awake  more  miserably  than 
any  of  the  so-called  torments  of  love,  which,  with 
scarcely  an  exception,  I  have  never  found  other 
wise  than  agreeable. 

At  last  Mabel  went  back  to  Folkestone,  and  I 
was  free  to  return  to  "  The  French  Horn,"  and  I 
never  saw  her  again  (thank  goodness!)  till  the 
momentous  interview  between  us  in  October, 
from  which  I  emerged  a  free  man  ;  she  having 
discovered  in  a  boarding-house  at  Lucerne  an 
architect  named  Byles,  whom  she'd  the  sense  to 
see  was  a  more  determined  wooer  than  I  had  ever 
been,  and  likely  to  make  her  a  far  better  hus 
band. 

"The  French  Horn"  is  not  an  old  house,  hav 
ing  been  built  in  about  the  year  1830,  from  de 
signs  made  by  Mr.  Thatcher's  father,  who  had 
copied  it  from  an  inn  he  had  once  stayed  in  in 
Spain.  For  a  country  gentleman  of  old  family, 
tbe  father  seems  to  have  been  a  somewhat  re 
markable  person.  He  had,  for  instance,  been  an 
intimate  friend  of  the  celebrated  Lord  Byron,, 
and  was  the  only  man  in  England  (so  Mr.  Thatch 
er  always  said)  who  knew  the  real  story  of  the 
quarrel  between  the  poet  and  his  wife.  Byron 
confided  it  to  him  at  Pisa  as  the  closest  of  se 
crets  ;  but,  as  he  had  always  told  it  to  everybody 
when  alive,  and  his  son,  my  father-in-law,  inva 
riably  did  and  still  does  the  same,  there  must  be 
a  good  many  people  in  England  by  now  who  know 
all  about  it. 


10 


In  fact,  there  was  scarcely  a  golfer  or  bicyclist 
came  to  the  house  but  Mr.  Thatcher  didn't  fix  him 
sooner  or  later  in  the  bar  and  ask  him  if  he  knew 
the  real  reason  why  Byron  quarrelled  with  his 
wife  and  left  England.  And  as  it  was  a  hundred 
to  one  chance  that  they  didn't,  Mr.  Thatcher 
always  informed  them  in  a  loud,  husky  whisper, 
and  shouted  after  them  as  they  left,  "But  you 
mustn't  publish  it,  because  it's  a  family  secret !" 

And  the  reason  was,  according  to  Mr.  Thatcher, 
that  Lord  Byron  had  killed  a  country  girl  when 
a  young  man  (somebody  he'd  got  into  trouble,  I 
suppose)  and  flung  her  body  in  the  pond  at  New- 
stead  ;  and  that  having,  in  a  moment  of  loving 
expansion,  bragged  of  it  to  his  wife,  Lady  Byron 
had,  very  properly,  promptly  kicked  him  out  of 
the  house  in  Piccadilly  ;  which,  also  according 
to  Mr.  Thatcher,  was  the  origin  of  those  touch 
ing  lines  : 

"They  tell  me  'tis  decided  you  depart: 
Tis  wise,  'tis  well,  but  not  the  less  a  pain," 

invariably  quoted  by  him  on  the  departure  of  a 
guest. 

It  was  this  same  father  of  Mr.  Thatcher's  who 
had  parted  with  "Wharton  Park,  their  ancestral 
home.  He  had  been  a  great  gambler  in  his 
youth,  and  lost  enormous  sums  at  Crockford's 
and  on  the  turf,  so  that  when  he  died,  in  1850, 
he  had  nothing  to  leave  his  only  son,  my  Lucy's 
father,  but  three  or  four  thousand  pounds,  very 
soon  muddled  away  in  unfortunate  business 
speculations. 


11 


At  last,  about  twenty  years  ago,  it  occurred  to 
Mr.  Thatcher  to  come  down  to  Nesshaven  and 
take  "The French  Horn, "close  to  the  Park  gates 
of  his  old  home,  where,  until  the  golf  mania  set 
in,  beyond  gaining  a  bare  livelihood,  he  did  110 
particular  good  ;  having  to  depend  on  natural- 
history  lunatics,  who  came  there  in  winter  and 
prowled  the  shore  with  shot-guns  after  rare  birds, 
and,  in  summer,  on  families  from  Colchester — 
tradespeople  and  bank -clerks  and  so  on — who 
spent  their  holidays  lying  about  in  the  warm 
sand  among  the  whins  and  complaining  of  the 
food.  Betweenwhiles  there  was  scarcely  a  soul 
about  except  the  coast-guards,  who  came  up  to 
fill  their  whiskey -bottles,  and  a  few  bicyclists 
who  ate  enormous  teas  and  never  would  pay  more 
than  ninepence. 

But  when  a  Colchester  builder  erected  the 
club-house  down  on  the  links,  Mr.  Thatcher's 
business  looked  up  wonderfully,  and  he  really 
began  to  make  money,  and  even  sometimes  to 
turn  it  away,  for  the  house  was  small.  Harold 
Forsyth  discovered  it,  being  quartered  so  near, 
and  it  was  he  who  introduced  me,  for  which  I 
can  never  be  sufficiently  grateful. 

It  was  a  curious  place,  as  most  amateur  build 
ings  are.  Forsyth  had  not  told  me  anything 
about  it,  and  I  was  indeed  astonished  when  we 
first  drove  up  ;  for,  with  its  colored  bricks,  veran 
da,  high-pitched  roof,  and  odd  carved  wood-work, 
it  reminded  me  somehow  of  an  illustration  to 
Don  Quixote,  and  I  quite  expected  to  see  a  team 
of  belled  mules  and  hear  the  gay  castanet  click 


12 


of  the  fandango.  Instead  of  which,  out  came 
Mr.  Thatcher  in  a  dirty  old  cricket  blazer. 

It  was  towards  the  middle  of  June,  and  the 
sun  was  just  setting  at  the  end  of  a  long,  warm 
day.  Mr.  Thatcher  showed  us  our  rooms,,  and 
then  took  us  into  the  great  hall  up-stairs,  from 
which  a  balcony  and  steps  descended  into  the 
garden.  It  had  a  very  high-pitched  roof,  and 
was  decorated  in  the  Moorish  fashion  (rather  like 
the  old  London  Crystal  Palace ;  where,  by-the- 
way,  I  have  eaten  pop-corn  many  a  time  as  a  boy, 
but  cannot  honestly  say  I  ever  enjoyed  it),  and 
would  hold,  I  dare  say,  a  hundred  and  fifty  peo 
ple  ;  rather  senseless,  I  thought,  seeing  there 
were  only  seven  or  eight  bedrooms,  but  possibly 
useful  for  bean-feasts  or  a  printer's  wayz-goose. 

The  broad  June  sun  was  setting,  as  I  say,  and 
streamed  right  in  from  the  garden,  as  Forsyth 
and  I  ate  our  dinner.  The  only  other  guests 
were  two  brothers  named  Walton,  who  spent 
their  lives  playing  golf.  They  played  at  Ness- 
haven  all  day,  and  wrote  accounts  of  it  every 
night,  sitting  close  together,  smoking  and  mum 
bling  about  the  condition  of  the  greens  and  their 
tee-shots,  all  of  which  was  solemnly  committed 
to  paper. 

What  they  would  have  done  with  themselves 
twenty  years  ago  I  can't  conceive — possibly  taken 
to  drink.  At  any  rate,  now  they  only  live  for 
golf,  and  their  thick  legs  and  indifferent  play  are 
to  be  seen  wherever  there's  a  links  and  they  can 
get  permission  to  perform. 

Mr.  Thatcher's  wife,  a  doctor's  daughter,  had 


13 


long  been  dead  ;  but  his  old  mother,  of  the  as 
tonishing  age  of  ninety-three,  was  still  alive,  and 
lived  with  him  in  the  inn.  At  first  she  had  not 
at  all  liked  the  idea  of  settling  down  almost  at 
the  gates  of  Wharton  Park,  her  old  home  ;  but 
every  year  since  they  came  she  had  expected 
would  be  her  last,  and  she  only  lived  on  on  suf 
ferance,  as  it  were,  in  the  hope  she  would  soon 
die.  Sprier  old  lady,  however,  I  must  say,  I  nev 
er  saw.  She  wasn't  in  the  least  deaf,  and  never 
wore  glasses,  and  she  was  simply  the  keenest 
hand  at  bezique  I  ever  encountered  ;  at  which 
entertaining  game,  by -the -way,  if  she  wasn't 
watched,  she  would  cheat  outrageously. 

She  came  of  a  good  old  Norfolk  family,  and 
actually  remembered  the  jubilee  of  George  III. 
in  1810 ;  but  when  asked  for  details  of  that 
touching  and  patriotic  event,  all  she  could  say 
was,  "Well,  I  remember  the  blacksmith's  chil 
dren  dressed  in  white." 

Old  Mrs.  Thatcher  and  I  were  great  friends, 
and  used  to  potter  about  the  garden  together  in 
the  early  mornings.  Farther  abroad  she  never 
ventured,  except  once  a  year,  I  believe,  when  she 
trotted  off  to  the  church  to  visit  her  husband's 
grave  and  see  the  tablet  inside  was  kept  clean. 

So  June  and  part  of  July  slipped  away,  diver 
sified,  as  I  have  explained,  by  a  visit  to  London 
and  some  melancholy  pleasures  sipped  in  Mabel 
Marker's  society,  from  which  I  returned  to 
"  The  French  Horn "  in  a  truly  desperate  and 
pitiable  frame  of  mind.  Indeed,  so  low 'and  for 
lorn  was  I  at  times  that  Mr.  Thatcher,,  with  great 


14 


sympathy,  once  or  twice  fetched  me  out  a  bottle 
of  old  port  (and  not  bad  tipple,  either,  for  a  coun 
try  inn),  which  we  drank  together,  while  he  relat 
ed  to  me  at  some  length  the  misfortunes  of  his  life. 

Chief  among  them  was  the  loss  of  his  an 
cestral  home,  AVharton  Park.  The  Thatchers 
had  lived  there  since  the  first  of  them,  a  Lord 
Mayor  of  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  had  built 
the  house  in  the  year  1543  —  of  which  orig 
inal  structure  only  the  stables,  in  an  extremely 
ramshackle  condition,  remained.  A  drunken 
Thatcher  with  a  bedroom  candle  had  burned 
the  rest,  towards  the  end  of  the  last  century, 
when  the  present  house  was  built  by  my  father- 
in  -  law's  grandfather  ;  a  bad  man,  apparently, 
since  though  he  had  a  wife  and  children  estab 
lished  in  Portman  Square,  he  kept  a  mistress  in 
one  of  the  wings  of  Whartoii  Park,  where  one 
night  she  went  suddenly  raving  mad  (treading  on 
her  long  boa  and  believing  it  a  serpent  come 
from  the  lower  regions  to  claim  and  devour  her), 
and  filled  the  air  with  her  screechings  till,  a  year 
later,  she  died. 

Mr.  Thatcher's  father  had  mortgaged  the  place 
heavily  to  Mr.  Crage,  an  attorney  and  money 
lender  of  Clement's  Inn,  and  soon  after  his  death, 
in  1850,  the  mortgage  was  foreclosed,  and  Mr. 
Crage  took  possession  and  had  lived  there  with 
great  disrepute  ever  since.  He  was  a  very  vile 
old  man,  who  had  killed  his  wife  with  ill-treat 
ment  and  turned  his  daughters  out-of-doors  ;  no 
female  domestic  servant  was  safe  from  his  dread 
ful  advances,  and  at  last  he  was  left  with  no  one 


15 


to  serve  him  but  the  gardener  and  his  wife,  with 
whom,  especially  when  they  all  got  drunk  together 
on  gin-and-water  in  the  kitchen,  he  was  as  often 
as  not  engaged  in  hand-to-hand  fighting. 

When  I  first  saw  him  he  was  well  over  eighty, 
and  a  more  abandoned-looking  old  villain  I  never 
set  eyes  on  ;  with  a  gashed,  slobbering  month,  in 
which  the  yellow  teeth  stuck  up  out  of  the  under- 
jaw  like  an  old  hound's  ;  a  broken  nose,  which 
had  once  been  hooked,  until  displaced  by  a  young 
carpenter  in  the  village,  whose  sweetheart  he  had 
been  rude  to  ;  and  the  most  extraordinary,  bushy, 
black  eyebrows.  His  hand  shook  so  he  always  cut 
himself  shaving,  and  his  chin  was  always  dabbled 
with  dry  blood.  In  short,  a  more  malignant  and 
gaunt  personality  I  never  saw,  as  I  first  did  quite 
close,  leaning  on  a  gate  and  mumbling  to  him 
self,  dressed  in  a  tight  body-coat,  gaiters,  and  a 
dull,  square,  black  hat,  like  a  horse-coper's. 

I  remember  he  called  out  to  me  over  the  gate 
in  a  rasping  voice,  "Hi,  there,  you  young  Cock 
ney  !  what's  the  time?"  Whereupon  I  haughtily 
replied  it  was  time  he  thought  of  his  latter  end 
and  behaved  himself.  At  which  he  fell  to  curs 
ing  and  shaking  his  stick,  and  making  sham,  im 
potent  efforts  to  get  over  the  gate.  For  they  told 
mo  he  was  mortally  afraid  of  dying,  as  all  bad 
(and,  for  the  matter  of  that,  many  good)  men  are. 
He  knew,  of  course,  Mr.  Thatcher  was  the  right 
ful  owner  of  the  place,  and  he  would  sometimes 
come  down  to  "  The  French  Horn"  and  jeer  him 
about  it,  offering  it  for  £30,000,  which,  he  dared 
say,  Mr.  Thatcher  had  in  the  house.  And  more 


16 


than  once,  curse  his  senile  impudence !  Mr. 
Thatcher  told  me  he  had  offered  to  marry  Lucy  ! 
— but  this  is  really  too  horrible  a  subject  to  be 
dwelt  on. 

In  short,  I  loathed  the  old  wretch  so  heartily 
that  it  was  perhaps  the  happiest  moment  of  my 
life  (with  the  exception  of  that  blessed  February 
morning  when  I  stood  at  the  altar  of  Nesshaven 
church  with  Lucy  and  heard  her  sweet  and  trem 
ulous  "I  will")  when,  after  our  triumphant  re 
turn  from  Monte  Carlo,  Mr.  Thatcher  and  I  went 
up  to  "Wharton  Park  with  the  £30,000  in  notes 
and  gold  and  paid  the  old  ruffian  out  over  the 
coarse  kitchen-table,  almost  the  only  furniture 
of  the  grand  drawing-room,  where  there  were 
still  the  old  yellow  silk  hangings  —  as  will  all 
come  in  its  place,  later  on. 

Lucy  Thatcher  at  this  time,  in  June  and  July, 
was  staying  Avith  her  aunt,  Miss  Young,  her 
mother's  sister,  who  kept  a  girls'  school  in  the 
Ladbroke  Grove  Road,  out  at  Xotting  Hill.  She 
taught  some  of  the  younger  children  and  made 
herself  generally  useful,  taking  them  out  walks 
in  Kensington  Gardens  ;  for  Mr.  Thatcher  wisely 
thought  her  too  beautiful  to  be  always  at  "  The 
French  Horn,"  since  bicyclists  and  golfers  are 
somewhat  apt  to  be  too  boldly  attentive  to  the 
lovely  faces  they  meet  with  on  their  roundabouts. 
Nor  can  I  altogether  blame  them.  So,  as  I  have 
said,  I  never  saw  her  till  my  return  in  Septem 
ber,  when  her  beauty  and  modesty  —  which  in 
my  judgment  are  synomymous — at  once  captured 
me,  and  always  will  hold  me  captive  till  I  die. 


CHAPTER  III 

I  CONTINUE  TO  KEEP  OUT  OF  MABEL  BARKER'S  WAY  AND 
GO  TO  GORING  —  RETURN  TO  "THE  FRENCH  HORN" 
— WANDERINGS  AVITII  LUCY  —  MR.  CRAGE  REHEARSES 
HIS  OWN  FUNERAL 

As  August  approached  I  began  to  feel  appre 
hensive  as  to  the  right  course  to  pursue  with  re 
gard  to  Mabel  Harker,  my  fiancee.  I  don't  want 
to  say  anything  unkind  about  her  here  in  print, 
but,  the  fact  is,  the  engagement  had  been  an  un 
fortunate  one  from  the  first.  Let  me  only  ob 
serve  that  I  really  honestly  think  if  a  man  is  to 
choose  between  behaving  like  a  brute  (as  people 
say  you  do  when  you  break  off  an  engagement) 
and  making  himself  miserable  for  life  (as  I  most 
certainly  should  if  I  had  married  Mabel),  he  had 
much  better  select  the  former  course.  At  any 
rate,  I  know  now  that  if  I  had  had  the  brutality, 
or  the  courage,  to  tell  Mabel  point-blank  at  first 
that  I  was  very  sorry,  but  I  didn't  care  for  her 
sufficiently  to  marry  her,  I  should  have  spared 
myself  a  vast  deal  of  annoyance  and  self-re 
proach,  which  now  I  understand  to  have  been 
altogether  unnecessary; seeing,  I  know  now  very 
well,  she  didn't  really  care  for  me  in  the  least, 

but  simply  regarded   me  as  a  lay-figure   (with 

2 


18 


eight  hundred  a  year)  to  stand  beside  her  at  the 
altar  rails  and  mechanically  say  " I  will"  and  "/ 
do  "  and  the  rest  of  it. 

After  her  visit  to  her  sister's  in  the  Eegent's 
Park,  in  July,  she  had  gone  back  to  Folkestone, 
and  I  was  in  some  tremor  whether  she  might  not 
desire  me  to  spend  the  holiday  months  with  them 
there  ;  but,  most  fortunately,  Mrs.  Barker,  her 
aunt,  received  a  very  good  offer  for  her  house  in 
Clifton  Gardens,  which  she  determined  to  take, 
and  go  abroad  to  Switzerland,  where  she  and 
Mabel  could  live  in  a  pension  and  save  quite 
three-fourths  of  the  home  rent. 

Mabel  wanted  me  to  join  them,  but  I  managed 
to  get  out  of  it,  and  very  lucky  I  did  ;  for  it  was 
at  that  very  pension  at  Lucerne  she  met  Charles 
Byles,  the  architect,  her  present  husband,  and  a 
great  ass  he  must  have  looked  with  that  small 
face  of  his  and  huge  mustache,  and  a  rope  round 
him  for  going  up  Pilatus  ;  besides  being  slightly 
bandy. 

As  for  me,  I  went  off  down  to  my  sister's, 
Mrs.  Rivers,  married  to  the  publisher,  who  had 
taken  a  little  house  on  the  river  at  Taplow,  where 
I  spent  the  end  of  August  and  early  part  of  Sep 
tember  with  great  content,  more  especially  in 
the  middle  of  the  week,  when  my  precious  broth 
er-in-law  (a  dull  fellow  and  a  prig)  was  away  do 
ing  his  publishing  in  town. 

I  left  Taplow  the  second  week  in  September, 
and  something  gentle,  yet  persuasive  and  strong, 
seeming  to  call  me  back  to  "The  French  Horn," 
off  I  went  there  ;  and  there,  as  I  have  already 


19 


mentioned,  I  met  and  fell  madly  in  love  with 
Lucy  Thatcher  at  first  sight,  a  passion  deepening 
to  a  tempest  before  October  dawned. 

Now,  as  I  am  telling  the  truth  in  this  work, 
and  not  writing  a  romance,  T  have  to  admit  that 
the  month  I  had  of  Lucy's  dear  companionship, 
before  I  knew  I  was  free,  was  by  no  means  spent 
idly,  and  that  I  made  all  the  running  with  her 
of  which  my  amorous  wits  are  capable,  just  as 
though  I  had  been  really  unappropriated. 

Nor  was  this  altogether  wrong,  for  I  felt  quite 
sure  Providence  would  stand  my  good  friend, 
as  always  in  such  affairs  before,  and  direct  Ma 
bel  Harker's  hopes  into  another,  sounder  mat 
rimonial  channel  than  mine.  Even  if  Providence 
had  not,  but  had  stood  aloof  and  fought  shy,  I 
should  then  most  certainly  have  deemed  it  nec 
essary  to  play  the  part  myself,  seeing  how  deeply 
and  truly  my  heart  was  now  for  the  first  time  en 
gaged. 

Dear  !  dear  !  at  what  amazing  speed  that  hap 
py  month  flew  past ;  how  little  there  seems  I  can 
say  about  it  now.  Isn't  it  strange  that  Time, 
whom  poets  prefigure  as  an  ancient  person  with 
anchylosed  joints,  further  encumbered,  notwith 
standing  his  great  age,  with  a  scythe  and  an  enor 
mous  hour-glass,  is  yet  on  occasion  capable  of 
showing  the  panting  hurry  of  a  sprinter  ? 

With  Lucy  I  was  alone  almost  all  the  time, 
for  Mr.  Thatcher,  very  properly,  wouldn't  allow 
her  to  help  in  the  bar — a  department  he  grace 
fully  presided  over  himself  in  his  dirty  blazer, 
grasping  the  handle  of  the  beer  engine,  and  some- 


20 


times,  on  Saturday  nights  mostly,  slightly  shaken 
with  a  gentlemanly  but  unmistakable  attack  of 
hiccoughs.  So  dear  Lucy  had  nothing  much  to 
do  but  go  bathing  and  help  her  grandmother  in 
the  garden,  gathering  the  plums  and  raking 
down  the  ripening  apples.  And  though  there 
were  days  when,  womanlike,  she  shunned  me  and 
kept  out  of  my  way  (so  as  not  to  make  herself 
too  cheap),  yet  she  was  very  frank  and  simple 
and  trusting  in  giving  me  at  other  times  her 
constant  companionship ;  and  as  on  the  days 
when  she  desired  to  be  more  alone  I  always  re 
spected  her  wish  and  kept  away  (just  turning  at 
the  fourth  hole  on  the  links  to  watch  her  light, 
firm  figure  crossing  down  to  her  bathing-tent  on 
the  shore,  and  waving  the  putter  at  her),  she  was, 
as  she  has  since  told  me,  pleased  at  my  delicacy 
and  perception,  and  showed  her  pleasure  when 
we  again  met  by  the  extraordinary  brightness  of 
her  eyes  and  the  sweet  readiness  of  her  smile. 

It  was  harvest-time,  and  though  Mr.  Thatcher 
had  no  acreage  of  his  own,  still  there  Avas  plenty 
of  it  round  him  under  cultivation,  and  a  fine  time 
if  was  for  the  Tap,  for  which  there  was  a  separate 
entrance,  with  a  painted  hand  pointing  to  it  for 
those  who  couldn't  read.  While  my  sweetheart 
and  I  strolled  about  the  lanes  by  day,  gathering 
blackberries  and  plucking  at  the  wisps  of  corn 
caught  by  the  high  hedges  and  low  branches 
from  the  passing  wagons,  on  warm  evenings  we 
would  sit  alone  in  the  garden,  listening  to  the 
hearty  rustic  revelry  of  premature  harvest-homes 
from  the  inn,  and,  when  it  was  very  still,  hearing 


21 


the  faint,  mysterious  rustle  of  the  waves  on  the 
long,  sandy  shore,  as  though  the  lulling  sea  were 
whispering  to  the  land,  "  Hush!  hush!  now  go  to 
sleep  like  a  good  child.  You've  had  a  long  day 
and  must  be  tired — hus/i !" 

It  was  at  this  time,  as  I  very  well  remember, 
we  strolled  up  late  one  afternoon  to  Wharton 
Park,  her  old  ancestral  home,  and  a  very  curious 
and  unedifying  sight  we  witnessed  there.  We 
went  in  at  the  empty  lodge  gates,  and  had  a  look 
in  first  at  the  church  in  the  Park  grounds,  of 
which  Mr.  Thatcher  kept  the  key  in  the  bar  ;  for 
there  was  no  rectory,  and  the  parson  came  over 
only  on  Sundays  from  Nesshaven  for  an  after 
noon  service — at  six  in  summer  and  at  three  in 
winter. 

The  ancient,  bird-haunted  edifice  was  pretty 
full  of  deceased  Thatchers — all  of  them,  in  fact, 
I  believe,  lie  there,  except  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
Henry  YIII.'s  reign,  who  gets  what  rest  he  can 
in  a  church  off  Cornhill,  and  Mr.  Thatcher's 
grandfather,  who  is  buried  out  at  Florence  ;  and 
where  there  aren't  tablets  and  tombs  of  old-time, 
worthy  Thatchers,  there  are  kindly  memorials  to 
their  servants,  house-keepers,  and  bailiffs  for  forty 
years  and  so  on ;  which  when  Lucy  and  I  had 
duly  and  reverently  inspected  and  sighed  over, 
we  had  a  peep  in  at  the  vestry,  where  hung  the 
parson's  crisp  surplice  behind  a  piece  of  religious 
arras,  and  a  framed  and  glazed  view  of  Wharton 
in  1750  (the  mansion  that  was  burned),  with  pom 
pous  gentlemen  in  three-cornered  hats  giving 
their  hands  to  ladies  in  immense  hoops  up  the 


22 


centre  path ;  and  a  tattered,  begrimed  notice  of 
the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  affording  the  clergy 
instructions  for  sending  parishioners  up  to  St. 
James's  to  be  touched  for  the  king's  evil. 

And  when  we  had  mourned  over  these  things, 
and  inspected  the  fragment  of  the  holy-water 
scoop,  and  the  blunt,  whitewashed  squint,  and 
the  broken  place  where  once  the  mass-priests  sat, 
and  the  Wharton  pew,  with  an  icy  cold  stove  in  it 
and  a  little  frame  of  dingy  red  curtain  hung 
round  on  rods  and  rings,  so  that  the  hinds 
shouldn't  see  when  the  quality  Thatchers  fell 
asleep  —  not  in  the  Lord!  —  on  drowsy  summer 
Sunday  afternoons — as,  alas  !  they  haven't  had 
the  opportunity  of  doing  for  many  years  past 
now  ;  then  we  went  on  up  to  the  house,  leaving 
the  drive,  however,  and  dodging  across  the  fields 
to  the  ha-ha,  for  fear  of  meeting  that  old  villain 
Crage. 

We  got  up  through  a  small  spinney  to  the  end 
of  the  ha-ha  that  faces  the  house,  and,  as  we  were 
quite  close,  saw  with  our  own  eyes  a  most  strange 
and  monstrous  sight — a  sight  so  strange  that  many 
readers  would  scarcely  credit  it,  had  they  not 
noticed  that  truth  and  not  fiction  is  my  object. 

Hidden  in  the  spinney,  we  were  not  more  than 
forty  yards  from  the  house,  which  is  long  and  low 
and  not  particularly  beautiful — in  fact,  decidedly 
Gothic  and  unsightly.  In  front  of  it,  lengthways 
and  pretty  broad,  runs  a  gravel  path,  and  up  and 
down  that  broad  gravel  path  was  stamping  and 
swearing  old  Mr.  Crage  ;  stamping  and  swearing 
and  shaking  his  stick  at  six  men  (laborers  of  his, 


23 


Lucy  said,  and  all  men  she  knew)  who  were  act 
ually  carrying  a  coffin,  a  smart,  brand-new  coffin 
with  dandy  silver  handles,  on  their  shoulders. 

The  old  wretch  was  positively  rehearsing  his 
own  funeral !  We  could  very  plainly  hear  him 
cursing  the  men  for  walking  too  fast  and  jolting 
him,  and  so  on  ;  as  though,  once  the  miserable 
old  hunks  were  cold,  it  mattered  how  anybody 
carried  him. 

Then  he  made  them  rest  the  coffin  on  one  end 
while  he  showed  them  himself  the  pace  they 
should  travel  and  the  demeanor  they  ought  to  ex 
hibit  ;  and  truly,  if  it  hadn't  been  scandalous  and 
horrible  it  would  have  been  ludicrous  to  see  the 
way  the  blaspheming  old  scamp  trailed  the  path 
before  them,  dragging  one  foot  along  after  an 
other,  with  head  and  shoulders  bent  in  sham  sor 
row  and  reverence  ;  trying,  in  short,  to  play-act 
the  distressed,  grief -stricken  mourner,  touched 
to  the  quick  at  his  own  loss. 

When  he  had  finished  his  parade,  he  shook  his 
stick  at  the  six  men,  and  cursed  them,  raving 
and  foaming,  for  damned  scoundrels  and  thieves 
and  disrespectful  ruffians,  who  would  be  glad  to 
see  him  dead,  and  would  whistle  and  dance  while 
carrying  him  off,  instead  of  doing  it  all  in  the 
proper  depressed  manner  he  had  just  shown 
them  ;  while  the  men  stood  and  looked  at  him 
stupidly  and  sullenly,  and,  I've  no  doubt,  would 
have  liked  to  jump  on  him  there  and  -then  and 
beat  him  to  a  pulp,  finishing  once  and  for  all 
with  so  dreadful  a  mockery  by  making  it  real. 

Dear   Lucy  and  I  stole  away,  quite   shocked 


24 


and  silent.  Afterwards  she  told  me  old  Crage 
had  had  the  coffin  a  long  time,  and  rehearsed  the 
funeral  once  before  ;  but  that  lately,  having  by 
threats  of  an  action  screwed  twenty  pounds  out 
of  his  daughter  for  money  he  had  lent  her  (on 
which,  by-the-way,  Miss  Crage  had  promptly  run 
away  and  got  married),  he  had  had  the  silver 
handles  added  ;  and,  now  that  the  coffin  was,  in 
his  estimation,  quite  perfect,  had  doubtless  gone 
through  the  unholy  ceremony  again,  so  that  when 
the  hour  struck  there  might  be  no  excuse  for  a 
hitch. 

So  Lucy  and  I  stole  away  back  to  "The  French 
Horn"  in  shocked  silence.  Pleasant  and  human 
it  sounded,  when  we  got  on  the  road  again,  to 
hear  a  carter  singing  as  he  rattled  homeward  in 
his  empty  wagon. 


CHAPTER  IV 

I  AM  FREE  OF  MABEL  HARKER  —  RETURN  TO  ' '  THE 
FRENCH  HORN  "  —  DISASTROUS  INTERFERENCE  OF 
HAROLD  FORSYTH  IN  MY  AFFAIRS 

IT  was  the  13th  of  October,  as  I  very  well  re 
member,  that,  shortly  after  Mabel's  return  to 
England  from  Switzerland,  she  wrote  me  an  in 
coherent  epistle,  begging  me  to  come  up  to  town 
and  see  her  at  once,  for  that  she  was  the  most 
miserable  of  girls  and  had  sad  news  for  me, 
signed  "your  heartbroken  Mabel."  I  must  say 
I  was  glad  to  hear  it,  and  greatly  looked  forward 
to  the  sad  news  ;  since  I  very  well  knew  it  could 
only  be  that  another  wooer  had  stepped  up  on 
to  the  Regent's  Park  tapis,  and  one  a  good  deal 
more  determined  to  win  her  than  I.  Directly  I 
got  there  and  found  the  fire  wasn't  lit  in  the 
drawing-room,  though  it  was  horribly  cold,  I 
knew  I  was  right,  and  the  interview  was  meant 
to  be  brief  and  painful. 

It  was  the  same  room,  by-trie-way  (though  the 
fire  had  been  lit  for  us  then !)  in  which  I  had 
made  my  unfortunate  declaration  in  the  early 
spring,  soon  after  Easter — a  declaration  precipi 
tated  by  Mabel,  who  began  playing  the  piano,  but 
soon  broke  down  over  it  and  Avept,  alleging  me 


26 


to  be  the  cause  of  her  unhappiness  ;  which,  being 
uncommon  tender-hearted  where  the  sex  are  con 
cerned,  completely  bo\vled  me  over  and  drove  me 
to  propose. 

When  she  came  in  this  time,  with  melancholy 
mouth  but  unmistakably  triumphant  eyes,  she 
at  once  told  me  the  sad  news  ;  to  which  I  listened 
with  as  gloomy  a  face  as  I  could,  demanding  in 
hoarse  tones  the  name  of  my  successful  rival. 
I  could  scarcely  contain  my  mirth  when  I  heard 
it  was  Byles,  the  man  she  had  so  often  laughed 
at  in  her  letters  from  Lucerne,  as  girls  not  in 
frequently  do  at  the  man  they  are  one  day  des 
tined  to  marry.  But  I  must  say  I  think  she 
might  at  any  rate  have  offered  to  send  me  my 
presents  back,  for  there  are  many  of  them  (par 
ticularly  a  diamond  and  sapphire  ring — cost  me 
eighteen  pounds)  I  should  have  liked  to  have 
given  Lucy.  I  make  no  manner  of  doubt  that  if 
it  had  been  garnets  and  carnelian,  I  should  have 
had  it  back  at  once  in  a  registered  letter. 

Directly  our  painful  interview  was  over,  I  hur 
ried  back  to  Nesshaven  and  "  The  French  Horn," 
feeling  happier  than  I  had  done  for  months  past, 
a  free  man,  and  my  heart  beating  so  rapturously 
I  believe  an  old  lady  in  the  carriage  with  me 
heard  it,  she  looked  so  frightened  at  my  restless 
ness. 

But  at  "The  French  Horn"  a  blow  awaited 
me,  from  which,  when  I  think  of  it,  I  yet  reel ; 
for  judge  of  my  stupor  when,  on  my  gay  return, 
I  was  met,  not  by  Lucy,  towards  whom  I  was  so 
impetuously  rushing  to  tell  all,  but  by  the  whis- 


killed  thunders  of  Mr.  Thatcher,  who  took  me  at 
once  into  the  bar-parlor,  and  proceeded  there  and 
then  to  claw  me  about  the  ears  with  the  angry 
rhetoric  of  a  theatrically  outraged  heavy  father. 

Of  course  he  was  quite  right ;  but  then  I  was 
myself  now  quite  right,  too ;  and  when  he  talked 
in  real  Adelphi  fashion  about  stealing  affections 
and  repaying  him  in  this  way,  I  was  —  thank 
Heaven! — in  a  position  to  be  angry  too,  and  give 
him  as  good  as  he  gave  me. 

So  I  let  him  fume  on  till  he  ran  himself  down, 
when  I  temperately  explained  what  my  position 
really  was,  and  how  I  was  altogether  free  ;  and 
how,  above  all,  that  if  Lucy  cared  for  me,  as  I 
very  well  knew  she  did,  I  was  going  to  marry  her 
at  once,  and  (if  not  precisely  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  "The  French  Horn")  settle 
down  and  live  happily  ever  after. 

Whereupon  Mr.  Thatcher's  easily  corrugated 
brow  began  as  easily  to  clear,  and  he  steadied  him 
self  arid  seized  and  shook  me  by  the  wrong  hand. 
So  we  sat  down  and  had  a  cigar  and  a  split  whis- 
key-and-soda,  and  he  was  good  enough  to  say  he 
had  known  all  along  (from  the  way  I  had  always 
paid  my  bill,  I  suppose)  that  he  could  trust  me 
implicitly,  and  all  would  come  right  in  the  end. 

But  in  the  mean  time  he  had  shipped  off  dear 
Lucy  to  her  aunt's  school  in  the  Ladbroke  Grove 
lload,  where  she  had  gone  back — very  tearfully, 
poor  child,  at  the  news  of  my  supposed  treach 
ery — to  her  altogether  uncongenial  employment 
with  the  younger  children. 

By  judicious    pumping    I  discovered  it  was 


28 


Harold  Forsyth  who  had  blown  upon  me  and 
"  queered  my  pitch,"  as  showmen  say,  having 
come  over  from  Colchester  to  play  golf,  and  been 
seized  upon  by  the  watchful  Thatcher,  who  of 
course  had  noticed  my  unremitting  attentions  to 
his  daughter.  Upon  which  Harold,  either  be 
cause  he  fancied  it  his  duty  (old  friends  are  often 
very  inconsiderate)  or  from  sheer  stupidity,  had 
let  slip  the  disastrous  news  of  my  engagement 
to  another  lady  ;  though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  at 
the  very  moment  of  their  conversation  it  was  off 
and  I  was  free. 

Old  Mrs.  Thatcher  took  the  situation  in  at  a 
glance,  and,  either  from  a  natural  desire  to  see 
her  granddaughter  properly  settled  or  from  pure 
friendship  for  me,  who  had  always  been  attentive 
to  her,  and  once  took  a  bee  out  of  her  hair  (that 
animal  being  almost  the  only  living  thing  she 
really  feared),  immediately  suggested  I  should  go 
off  at  once  to  the  Ladbroke  Grove  Road,  pro 
vided  with  a  letter  to  the  aunt  from  Mr.  Thatch 
er,  in  which  everything  was  explained,  and  I  was 
given  authority  to  interview  and  settle  matters 
with  my  dear  sweetheart.  So,  next  morning  ear 
ly,  off  I  drove  to  Nesshaven  Station  in  the  milk 
cart,  gay  as  a  lark  —  that  chorister  of  the  poor 
and  the  cheerful  well-to-do  —  and  by  twelve 
o'clock  was  rattling  in  a  cab  down  the  Ladbroke 
Grove  Road. 


CHAPTER  V 

ANGLESEY  LODGE— MY  INTERVIEW  WITII  LTJCY  IN  KEN 
SINGTON  GARDENS — NOT  SO  SATISFACTORY  AS  I  COULD 
DESIRE 

THERE  was  a  piano-organ  placing  in  front  of 
Anglesey  Lodge  as  I  drove  up  ;  it  was  playing 
the  old  "Les  Roses"  waltz,  and  quite  dramatic 
and  affecting  the  music  sounded  as  I  impatiently 
waited  in  the  drawing-room,  hung  with  Dore's 
works  to  impress  parents,  and  with  a  model  of 
the  Taj  under  glass,  done  in  soapstone,  and  sent 
by  some  girl-pupil,  T  imagine,  who  had  married 
and  gone  out  to  India. 

The  aunt  soon  joined  me,  smiling,  with  Mr. 
Thatcher's  open  letter  in  her  hand,  and  a  very 
handsome  woman  she  must  have  been — indeed, 
still  was — with  traces,  on  a  florid  scale,  of  Lucy's 
simple  and  yet  delicate  beauty. 

She  was  so  friendly,  and  made  herself  so  fas 
cinating,  it  was  fully  half  an  hour  before  I  could 
get  away.  She  told  me  Lucy  was  out  with  some 
of  the  pupils,  and  that,  if  I  went  to  Kensington 
Gardens  and  walked  down  the  Broad  Walk,  I 
should  be  sure  to  see  them.  Further,  if  we 
made  it  up  (as  we  surely  should,  she  graciously 
added),  she  begged  me  to  come  back  to  lunch 


30 


at  half-past  one ;  though  she  must  ask  me  not 
to  walk  home  with  the  young  ladies  through 
the  streets  for  fear  of  adverse  neighborly  com 
ments,  and  upsetting  them  for  the  afternoon 
studies. 

I  was  soon  at  the  entrance  to  the  gardens  in 
the  Bayswater  Road,  where  the  keeper's  lodge  is, 
with  its  glass  bottles  of  sweets  and  half-penny 
rock -buns;  and,  true  enough,  there  was  dear 
Lucy,  sitting  on  one  of  the  seats  facing  the 
walk,  reading  to  one  of  the  little  girls,  while  the 
other  bigger  ones,  perhaps  half  a  dozen  of  them, 
were  playing  rounders  in  French,  among  the  trees 
and  the  dead  leaves. 

"  Coinbicn  de  rounders  avez-vous?"  cried  one 
of  them  as  I  came  up;  and  "Courrez,  Maud, 
courrez!"  cried  another,  clapping  her  hands, 
as  the  tennis-ball  in  its  torn  cover  whizzed 
close  by  me,  whacked  by  a  young  person  with 
a  racquet,  who  was  soon  off  on  her  round 
in  a  short  frock  but  with  uncommonly  long 
legs. 

I  came  quite  close  behind  Lucy,  taking  care 
not  to  make  the  leaves  rustle.  She  was  reading 
Bonnechose's  History  of  France  aloud,  something 
about  the  wars  of  the  Fronde  and  Cardinal 
Richelieu. 

" '  The  conduct  of  the  cardinal  at  this  junc 
ture —  "  she  was  saying  with  great  seriousness, 
when  the  little  girl  beside  her,  who  naturally 
wasn't  attending,  looked  up  and  saw  me.  I  gave 
her  a  friendly  smile,  and  after  that  moment's 
careful  scrutiny  which  females  of  all  ages  indulge 


31 


in,  she  smiled  back.  The  next  moment  Lucy 
looked  at  her  and  then  round  up  at  me,  giving  a 
soft,  frightened  "Hah  !"  and  then  going  as  white 
as  a  sheet. 

Really,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  say  at  what 
age  a  comprehension  of  love,  its  torments  and 
its  joys,  arises  in  the  fresh  girlish  breast.  The 
pretty  creature  seated  at  Lucy's  side  couldn't 
have  been  more  than  eleven,  but  she  saw  at  once 
I  loved  her  teacher  and  desired  to  be  alone  with 
her ;  so  she  immediately  rose,  staid  and  com 
posed  as  a  woman,  shook  her  long  hair,  and,  with 
complete  unconsciousness,  strolled  off  and  joined 
the  other  older  girls ;  while  they,  not  to  be  be 
hindhand  in  delicacy,  soon  stopped  their  some 
what  noisy  game,  and,  forming  a  sympathetic 
group  at  some  little  distance  under  an  elm,  stood 
there  talking  in  whispers  with  their  backs  to  us  ; 
pretending  to  be  immensely  interested  and  ab 
sorbed  in  the  'buses  rumbling  down  the  Bays- 
water  lload. 

But  for  her  little  frightened  cry,  Lucy  re 
ceived  me  in  silence,  and  didn't  even  give  me 
her  hand.  She  sat  there  on  the  seat — cut  and 
scarred  with  other,  happier  lovers' records — with 
her  head  slightly  turned  away  from  me  ;  perfect 
ly  composed,  apparently,  after  the  first  shock  and 
natural  agitation  of  seeing  me  again  so  suddenly 
Avere  over. 

I  asked  her  how  she  was  and  how  long  she 
had  been  in  town;  she  said  she  was  quite  well, 
and  had  been  there  since  the  day  before  yester 
day. 


32 


Then  she  said,  calmly,  "Can  you  tell  me 
the  time,  please  ?"  and  on  my  replying  it  was 
a  quarter  to  one,  murmured  she  must  be  go 
ing  home  to  dinner,  and  made  as  if  she  would 
rise. 

I  stopped  her  with,  "  Please,  Lucy,  let  me  speak 
to  you  first.  So  she  remained  perfectly  still, 
though  with  her  pretty  head  still  turned  away 
from  me. 

Eloquent,  or,  at  all  events,  talkative,  as  I  gen 
erally  am  with  the  sex,  I  admit  I  couldn't  for 
the  life  of  me  tell  how  to  begin. 

At  last  I  said  I  was  afraid  she  must  think 
badly  of  me,  and  then  waited  of  course  for  her 
contradiction ;  but  as  it  never  came,  and  she 
never  made  a  sign,  I  went  on  to  say  I  shouldn't 
dare  approach  her  were  it  not  I  was  a  free  man  ; 
that  my  affair  with — with  the  other  lady  was 
finally  at  an  end,  and  so  I  came  to  her  first  and 
at  once  with  my  whole  heart.  As  I  spoke,  I 
watched  her  closely,  if  only  in  the  hope  I  might 
detect  some  slight  twitching  of  her  small  un 
gloved  hands,  or  some  involuntary  twittering  of 
her  eyes  or  lips,  when  I  told  her  I  was  free  ;  but 
she  sat  so  like  an  antique,  or,  for  the  matter  of 
that,  a  modern  statue,  I  began  to  grow  fright 
ened,  since  I  know  very  Avell  how  implacable  even 
the  tenderest  of  women  can  sometimes  be  when 
it  suits  them. 

"  Oh,  Lucy  dear  !"  I  stammered,  "  d-don't  be 
hard  on  me.  I  loved  you  the  moment  I  saw  you. 
I  never  really  loved  the  other  one.  Since  the 
day  I  first  set  eyes  on  you,  I  have  never  given 


any  other  woman  a  serious  thought.  You  can't 
be  so  unkind  as  to  break  my  life  in  pieces,  mere 
ly  because  I've  been  careless,  merely  because  I 
spoke  to  you  before  1  \vas  quite  sure  I  was  free  ? 
\Vby,  I  was  free  of  her  directly  I  saw  you,  and  if 
she  hadn't  released  me  of  her  own  accord,  as  she 
has  done —  Oh,  Lucy !  don't  leave  me  in  this 
dreadful  suspense  !  Do,  my  dear  girl,  say  some 
thing  kind  to  me,  for  mercy's  sake  !" 

"I  don't  feel  kindly  towards  you,  Mr.  Blacker," 
Lucy  answered,  cold  and  stern,  "and  I  can't  pre 
tend.  I  know  quite  well  what's  happened.  You 
thought  I  was  only  an  innkeeper's  daughter — 

"Oh,  Lucy!" 

"And  that  so  long  as  you  were  staying  there 
you  might  as  well  amuse  yourself." 

"Love  is  no  amusement,  Lucy  —  it's  a  most 
fearful  trial." 

"But  did  you  ever,  when  you  were  daring  to 
make  love  to  me,"  she  said,  suddenly  turning  on 
me  with  amazing  fierceness,  "even  cease  writing 
love  letters  to  her  ?  Tell  me  that,  Mr.  Vincent 
Blacker  !" 

I  groaned  ;  for  the  truth  is  I  had  written  more 
warmly  to  Mabel  Harker  all  that  delightful  month 
at  "  The  French  Horn  "  than  usual ;  from  the 
simple  fact  that,  myself  feeling  happier,  I  natu 
rally  wished  Mabel  to  share,  in  a  sense,  in  my 
joy.  So  what  could  I  do  but  groan  ? 

"  If  we  hadn't  found  out  quite  by  accident  you 
were  engaged,"  Lucy  went  on,  "should  AVC  have 
ever  found  it  out  from  you  ?  Were  you  making 
any  effort  of  any  sort  to  free  yourself  ?  You 


were  acting  an  untruth  to  me  all  that  time.  How 
can  I  tell  you  are  not  acting  an  untruth  to  me 
now  ?" 

"I  wasn't  in  the  least  acting  an  untruth  when 
I  said  I  loved  you.  IIo\v  can  you  say  such  a 
thing,  Lucy  dear  ?" 

"  You  mustn't  call  me  by  my  Christian  name/' 
she  answered,  pale,  and  setting  her  lips  tight ; 
and  then  she  was  silent  again. 

"  You  are  very  hard  on  me,"  I  cried,  after  a 
pause,  "and  I  hope  you  will  never  live  to  regret 
it.  What  could  a  man  do  differently,  situate  so 
unfortunately  as  I  was  ?" 

"  You  should  have  been  perfectly  honest  and 
frank.  At  least,  you  should  have  made  sure  you 
were  off  with  the  old  love  before  you  tried  to  be 
on  with  the  new." 

"But  you  talk  as  if  these  things  always  lay 
within  our  power  !  I  didn't  purposely  fall  in 
love  with  you — I  simply  couldn't  help  myself  ! 
And  into  the  other  affair  I  had  been  more  or  less 
entrapped." 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  with  some  scorn,  "and 
three  months  hence  you  Avill  be  saying  exactly 
the  same  thing  to  the  next  girl." 

"I  shall  never  speak  to  any  one  again,"  I  an 
swered,  solemnly  and  truly,  "as  I  am  speaking 
now  to  you.  You  can  believe  me  or  not,  as  you 
please,  but  I  can  never  think  of  any  one  as  I 
think  of  you,  and  I  never  have.  If  you  will  only 
think  of  me  kindly,  and  try  to  make  excuses  for 
me  ;  if  you  will  only  consult  your  own  heart  a 
little—" 


"  I  mustn't  allow  myself  to  be  turned  round 
by  a  few  soft  speeches,"  said  Lucy,  looking  al 
most  frightened  and  rising  before  I  could  pre 
vent  her.  "You  have  hurt  me  very  much,  and 
I  don't  know  that  my  feelings  Avill  ever  alter,  or 
that  I  should  allow  them  to." 

"  But  you  will  let  me  see  you  again  ?"  I  hum 
bly  entreated. 

"I  don't  know.  Certainly  not  for  some  little 
time." 

"  I  may  write  to  you  ?" 

"No,  certainly  not !" 

"This  is  all  very  poor  comfort,  Lucy,"  I 
groaned,  "after  the  journey  I  have  taken  on 
purpose  to  see  you  and  make  it  all  right." 

"What  other  comfort  do  you  deserve,  Mr. 
Blacker  ?"  she  asked  me,  haughtily,  and  imme 
diately  moved  away  from  the  seat  towards  her 
young  ladies. 

"  I  will  come  down  at  Christmas,  if  I  may,"  I 
said,  tenderly  and  humbly ;  but  she  never  replied, 
and  the  next  moment  was  marshalling  the  girls 
for  walking  home. 

They  walked  to  the  gate  in  the  Bayswater 
Road  in  a  group,  and  formed  up  two  and  two  as 
they  got  outside. 

Lucy  never  turned  her  head  once,  but  nearly 
every  young  lady  treated  herself  to  a  look  behind ; 
when  they  might  have  seen  me  plunged  down  in 
melancholy  on  the  seat,  digging  a  morose  pat 
tern  into  the  Broad  Walk  with  the  point  of  my 
stick. 

I  drawled  back  unhappily  across  the  Gardens 


and  down  the  empty  Row  to  Hyde  Park  Corner, 
along  Piccadilly,  and  to  the  club. 

Christmas  !  and  this  was  only  October  ! 

Sympathetic  readers  (and  I  desire  no  others) 
can  have  no  conception  what  I  suffered  during 
the  next  few  days. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EARLY  DIFFICULTIES — I  FAIL  TO  PERSUADE  THE  HONOR 
ABLE  EDGAR  FANSIIAWE,  Til?:  REVKREND  PERCY  BLYTII, 
AND  MR.  PARKER  WHITE,  M.  P. ,  TO  JOIN  OUR  MONTE 
CARLO  PARTY 

LUCY  declares  I  have  written  enough  about  her, 
and  now  had  better  get  on  to  the  Monte  Carlo 
part — who  went  with  me,  and  why  they  went, 
and  so  on. 

I  dare  say  she's  right ;  for  though  we  neither 
of  us  know  any  thing  whatever  about  writing,  she 
says  she  represents  the  average  reader,  and,  hav 
ing  been  told  (as  well  as  I  could  do  it)  something 
about  "The  French  Horn"  and  my  love- alf air 
there,  is,  as  an  average  reader,  growing  anxious 
to  learn  how  I  got  the  party  together  for  so  ap 
parently  hazardous,  not  to  say  hopeless,  an  enter 
prise. 

I  must  just  mention,  however,  that,  after  my 
sad  interview  with  her  in  Kensington  Gardens,  I 
at  once  wrote  to  Mr.  Thatcher  and  told  him  ex 
actly  what  had  occurred,  informing  him  of  my 
intention  to  come  down  at  Christmas  and  try 
and  settle  matters  with  his  daughter.  At  the 
same  time  I  begged  him  to  send  me  up  the 
clothes  and  portmanteaus  I  had  left  behind  me 


88 


at  "The  French  Horn."  They  arrived,  accom 
panied  by  a  scrawl  from  Mr.  Thatcher,  urging  me 
to  be  a  man  and  bear  up  and  all  would  come  right, 
and  enclosing  a  rather  larger  bill  than  I  fancied 
I  owed,  but  which  I  thought  it  politic  to  pay 
without  protest  of  any  kind. 

Even  the  old  lady,  his  mother,  sent  me  a  line, 
in  a  very  upright  fist,  kindly  informing  me 
"brighter  clays  were  in  store."  A  simple  prophecy, 
that  long  has  ceased  to  interest  me  ;  since  I  have 
invariably  had  it  from  the  innumerable  fortune 
tellers,  by  cards  and  tea-leaves  and  the  crystal, 
whom  for  years  past  I  have  rather  foolishly  been 
in  the  habit  of  consulting,  but  never  derived  any 
real  benefit  from. 

As  for  my  great  idea  to  sack  Monte  Carlo,  it 
came  to  me  one  morning  (quite  unexpectedly,  as 
I  have  said)  when  I  was  lying  in  bed,  trying  to 
summon  up  resolution  to  rise  for  another  dull 
and  irksome  day.  It  was  still  a  long  time  off 
Christmas,  and  life  was  lying  on  me  with  extreme 
heaviness ;  for,  as  I  think  I  have  explained,  I  am 
in  the  militia,  and  when  once  my  month's  train 
ing  is  over  have  nothing  to  do  with  myself  ex 
cept  live  on  my  eight  hundred  a  year  and  amuse 
myself  as  best  I  can  ;  and  my  idleness  was  ren 
dered  further  indigestible  at  this  period  by  the 
unhappy  state  of  my  relations  with  dear  Luc}', 
whom  I  could  neither  see  nor  write  to. 

But  the  idea  that  I  should  get  a  small,  reso 
lute  party  together,  and  raid  the  tables  at  Monte 
Carlo,  brought  a  new  interest  into  my  life  ;  and 
after  making  a  few  quiet  and  judicious  inquiries 


39 


(for  I  had  never  been  there),  I  determined  to  set 
about  the  affair  in  earnest  and  see  if  I  could  get 
any  one  to  join  me. 

My  first  efforts  in  that  direction,  as  is  gener 
ally  the  case  with  anything  new  and  startling, 
were  not  at  all  successful ;  but  the  more  opposi 
tion  and  ridicule  I  met  with,  the  more  obstinate 
and  determined  I  became.  As  for  the  moral 
ity  of  the  affair,  that,  as  I  have  said,  has  never 
troubled  me  from  first  to  last.  Does  any  one 
think  of  calling  the  police  immoral  when  they 
go  and  raid  a  silver  gambling-hell  in  Soho  ?  For 
the  life  of  me  I  have  never  been  able  to  see  the 
difference  between  us,  except  that  in  our  case 
there  was  needed  a  greater  nerve  and  address. 

JSTow  rny  sister,  Mrs.  Kivers,  the  wife  of  the 
publisher,  lives  in  Medworth  Square,  S.  W.,  and, 
on  considering  her  intimates,  I  made  tip  my  mind 
to  approach  the  Honorable  Edgar  Fanshawe  first. 
He  has  a  brother  in  the  Foreign  Office,  and  rela 
tions  scattered  about  everywhere  in  government 
employ,  so  I  decided  he  would  be  a  good  man  to 
have  with  us  in  case  the  affair  proved  a  fiasco 
and  we  all  got  into  trouble,  a  chance  that  natu 
rally  had  to  be  provided  for. 

Fanshawe,  I  should  explain,  was  at  one  time 
in  the  Guards,  but  now  writes  the  most  dread 
fully  dull  historical  novels,  which  my  brother-in- 
law  publishes,  and  no  one  that  I  have  ever  met 
reads.  Every  autumn,  sure  as  fate,  among  the 
firm's  list  of  new  books  you  see  announced, 
Something  or  Other,  a  Tale  of  the  Young  Pretend 
er  ;  or,  Something  or  Other  Else,  an  Episode  of 


40 


the  Reign  of  Terror ;  with  quotations  from  the 
Scots  Herald,  "this  enthralling  story";  or,  from 
the  Dissenters'  Times,  "no  more  powerful  and 
picturesque  romance  lias  at  present  issued,"  etc. 
Or  The  Leeds  Commercial  Gazette  Avould  declare 
it  "the  best  historical  novel  since  Scott,"  which 
I  seem  to  have  heard  before  of  many  other  dull 
works. 

Fanshawe  is  a  purring,  mild,  genteel,  rather 
elderly  person,  who  listens  to  everything  you  are 
good  enough  to  say  most  attentively  and  politely, 
with  his  head  on  one  side,  and  never  will  be 
parted  from  his  opera-hat.  When  I  attacked 
him  one  night  after  dinner  in  Medworth  Square 
he  was  in  his  usual  autumnal  condition  of  beati 
tude  at  the  excellence  of  the  reviews  of  his 
latest  historical  composition  (which,  as  usual, 
scarcely  sold),  and  beamed  on  me  with  de 
lighted  condescension,  stuffing  quantities  of  rais 
ins. 

"What  shall  you  be  doing  in  January?"  I 
cautiously  began.  "  Would  you  be  free  for  a  lit 
tle  run  over  to  Monte  Carlo  ?" 

Unfortunately,  the  Honorable  Edgar  is  the  sort 
of  person  who,  half  an  hour  after  dinner,  will 
undertake  to  do  anything  with  anybody,  and  then 
write  and  get  out  of  it  immediately  after  break 
fast  next  morning,  when  he's  cold  ;  so  I  quite 
expected  the  reply  that  Monte  Carlo  in  January 
would  suit  him  exactly,  and  what  hotel  did  I 
propose  to  stay  at  ? 

"Now  I've  an  idea,"  I  went  on,  drawing  a  lit 
tle  closer.  "You've  been  to  Monte  Carlo,  of 


41 


course,  and  know  what  a  quantity  of  money 
there  is  in  the  place." 

"Some  of  it  mine/''  smiled  Fanshawe.  "I 
beg  your  pardon  for  interrupting  you." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "'how  would  you  like  to  join 
a  little  party  of  us  for  the  purpose  of  getting  it 
back  ?" 

"A  syndicate  to  work  a  system  ?" 

"Nothing  so  unprofitable." 

"  I  don't  know  of  any  other  way." 

"'My  idea,"  I  went  on,  sinking  my  voice,  "is 
shortly  this :  that  half  a  dozen  of  us  should  join 
and  take  a  yacht — a  fast  steam-yacht — 

"  Rather  an  expensive  way  of  doing  it,  isn't 
it  ?"  objected  Fanshawe,  in  alarm,  lie  doesn't 
mind  what  he  pays  to  have  his  books  published, 
but  is  otherwise  mean. 

"  Xot  when  you  consider  the  magnitude  of  the 
stakes." 

"  Why,  the  most  you  can  win,  even  if  you  break 
the  bank,  is  only  a  hundred  thousand  francs  !" 

"But  consider  the  number  of  the  tables,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  reserve  in  the  vaults,  and  the 
money  lying  about  already  staked  !" 

The  old  boy  looked  puzzled,  but  nodded  his 
head  politely  all  the  same.  "That's  true,"  he 
said,  vaguely. 

"  The  place  is  not  in  any  sense  guarded,  as  no 
doubt  you  remember." 

"Xo,  I  don't  know  that  I  ever  saw  a  soldier 
about,  except  one  or  two,  very  bored,  on  sentry 
go,  up  at  Monaco.  But  what  has  that  to  do  with 
it?" 


"  Why,  half  a  dozen  resolute  men  with  revolv 
ers  could  clear  the  whole  place  out  in  five  min 
utes/'  I  murmured,  seductively.  "The  steam- 
yacht  lies  in  the  harbor,  we  collect  the  money,  or 
as  much  of  it  as  half  a  dozen  of  us  can  carry 
away,  and,  once  on  board  the  lugger — " 

Fanshawe  pushed  his  chair  back  and  stared  at 
me. 

'•' — We  go  full-steam  ahead  to  one  of  the  Greek 
islands,  divide  the  swag,  scuttle  the  steamer, 
make  our  way  to  the  Piraeus,  inspect  the  Acrop 
olis,  and  come  home,  via  Corfu,  as  Cook's  tour 
ists.  Or  go  to  the  Holy  Land,  eh,  by  way  of 
completely  averting  suspicion  ?"  And  I  winked 
and  nudged  him,  nearly  falling  over  in  my  effort 
to  get  at  his  frail  old  ribs. 

'"'  My  dear  friend  !"  gasped  the  startled  Fan 
shawe;  "  why  propose  such  an  elaborate  pleasant 
ry  ?  It's  like  school-boy's  talk  in  a  dormitory/' 

"I  never  felt  further  from  my  school-days  in 
my  life,"  I  answered  with  determination.  "The 
affair  is  perfectly  easy — easier  than  you  think. 
All  it  wants  is  a  little  resolution,  and  the  money's 
ours." 

"But  it's  simple  robbery." 

"  Oh,  don't  imagine,"  I  at  once  replied,  "  I 
propose  anything  so  coarse  as  burglary  and  the 
melting-pot.  No;  I  say  to  myself,  here  is  the 
most  iniquitous  establishment  in  Europe,  simply 
reeking  with  gold,  of  which  an  enormous  sur 
plus  remains  at  the  end  of  the  year  to  be  divided, 
principally  among  Semitic  Parisians,  who  lavish 
it  on  their  miserable  pleasures.  Here,  on  the 


43 


other  hand,  are  numerous  deserving  establish 
ments  in  London  —  hospitals  and  so  on  —  with 
boards  out,  closing  their  wards  and  imploring 
subscriptions.  The  flow  of  gold  has  evidently 
got  into  the  wrong  channels,  as  it  always  will  if 
not  sharply  looked  after.  Be  ours  the  glorious 
enterprise  to  divert  it  anew — 

"My good  friend,"  interrupted  Fanshawe,  "if 
I  thought  you  serious — " 

"  Never  was  more  serious  in  my  life  !" 
"  But,  gracious  me,  suppose  you're  all  caught?" 
"  Oh,  there  is  a  prison  up  at  Monaco,  I  be 
lieve,"  I  answered,  lightly;  "but  they  tell  me 
prisoners  come  and  go  just  as  they  please.  That 
doesn't  in  the  least  alarm  me.  Besides,  Europe 
would  be  on  our  side — at  all  events,  the  respect 
able  portion  of  it — and  would  hail  our  coup  with 
rapture,  even  if  it  ended  in  failure.  And  with 
your  brother  in  the  Foreign  Office,  they'd  soon 
have  you  back.  Now  what  do  you  say  ?  Will 
you  make  one  ?" 

"  My  dear  Blacker,  you  really  must  be  crazy !" 
"At  a  given  signal,  when  the  rooms  are  fullest, 
some  of  us  —  two  would  be  enough  —  drive  the 
gamblers  into  a  corner  and  make  them,  hold 
up  their  hands.  The  others  loot  the  tables 
and  the  vaults.  Then  we  turn  out  the  electric 
light—" 

"  Any  more  wine,  Fanshawe  ?"  called  out  my 
brother-in-law. 

Fanshawe  rose,  and  I  saw  at  once  by  the  limp 

way  he  pulled  his  waistcoat  down  he  was  no  good. 

"Well,"  I  said,  as  I  followed   him   into  the 


44 


drawing-room,  "if  you  won't  join  us,  you  must 
give  me  your  word  not  to  breathe  a  syllable  of 
what  we  are  going  to  do.  It's  an  immense  idea, 
and  I  don't  want  any  one  to  get  hold  of  it  first, 
and  find  the  place  gutted  by  some  one  else  before 
we  can  get  a  look  in." 

Fanshawe's  only  reply  was  that  if  I  got  into 
trouble  he  would  thank  me  not  to  apply  to  him 
to  bail  me  out ;  so  we  mutually  promised. 

I  don't  know  that,  on  the  whole,  I  very  much 
regretted  him  ;  he  is,  after  all,  a  very  muddle- 
headed,  nervous  old  creature  ;  but  my  hopes 
were  for  a  time  a  good  deal  dashed  by  the  refusal 
of  the  Reverend  Percy  Blyth  to  join  us  (much  as 
he  approved  of  the  scheme),  though  I  did  my  best 
to  tempt  him  with  the  offer  of  new  stops  for  his 
organ  out  of  the  boodle.  He  is  the  clergyman 
of  St.  Blaise's,  Medworth  Square,  and  intimate 
with  all  the  theatrical  set,  for  whom  he  holds 
services  at  all  sorts  of  odd  hours ;  the  natural 
result  of  which  is  he  is  on  the  free  list  of  near 
ly  every  theatre,  and  has  given  me  many  a 
box. 

Now  every  school-boy  knows  how  priceless  the 
presence  of  a  parson  is  to  all  human  undertak 
ings — on  a  race-course,  for  instance,  for  thimble- 
rigging,  the  three- card  trick,  and  other  devices. 
They  call  him  the  bonnet,  and  if  you  have  any 
trifling  dispute  about  there  being  no  pea,  or  the 
corner  of  the  card  being  turned  down,  you  are 
likely  to  be  very  much  astonished  to  find  the 
clergyman  (who,  of  course,  is  only  a  cove  dressed 
up)  take  the  proprietor's  part  and,  at  a  pinch, 


45 


offer  to  fight  yon,  or  any  other  dissatisfied  by 
stander. 

So  I  naturally  thought  it  would  be  a  good 
thing  for  us  if  we  had  a  real  parson  in  the  party, 
if  only  as  a  most  superior  bonnet,  to  avert  sus 
picion  ;  though,  if  I  had  only  thought  a  little,  I 
might  have  known  the  idea  wouldn't  work,  since 
Blyth  couldn't  very  well  have  gone  into  the  Casino 
rooms  in  parson's  rig,  and  I  didn't  really  want 
him  for  anything  else. 

There  was  only  one  other  of  my  sister's  friends 
I  approached  on  the  subject  before  I  had  recourse 
to  my  own — Parker  White,  a  bouncing  sort  of 
young  man  who  had  just  got  into  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  who,  I  thought,  might  possibly 
be  useful.  But,  as  I  cautiously  felt  my  way  with 
him,  he  looked  so  frightened,  and  talked  such 
balderdash  about  his  position  and  filibustering 
and  European  complications  (complications  with 
Monaco,  if  you  please,  with  an  army  of  seventy 
men  !)  that  I  pretended  it  was  all  a  joke  and 
turned  the  conversation. 

To  tell  the  truth,  I  was  not  much  disappointed 
in  Parker  White,  since  I  know  very  well  how 
most  of  those  younger  men  in  the  House  are  all 
gas  and  no  performance  ;  but,  all  the  same,  he 
was  pretty  cunning  ;  for,  to  put  it  vulgarly,  he 
lay  low  and  waited,  and  when  talk  began  to  get 
about  of  what  we  had  done,  and  the  Casino  Com 
pany's  shares  fell  immediately  in  consequence  of 
our  success,  he  bought  them  up  like  ripe  cherries ; 
and  then,  when  it  was  all  contradicted  by  a  sub 
sidized  press  (which  made  me  wild  and  drove  me 


46 


to  writing  this  work  in  self  -  defence),  and  the 
shares  jumped  up  again,  he  promptly  sold  and 
made  a  good  thing  out  of  it. 

But  he  has  never  had  the  grace  to  thank  me 
for  putting  the  opportunity  in  his  way ;  which 
is  so  like  those  men  in  the  House  who  speculate 
on  their  information  on  the  sly  and  then  blush 
to  find  it  fame. 


CHAPTER  VII 

I  INTERVIEW  Mil.  BRENTIN — HIS  SYMPATHY  AND  INTEREST 
— SIR  ANTHONY  HIPKINS  AND  THE  YACHT  AMARASTH 
— WE  DETERMINE  TO  LOOK  OVER  IT 

I  soox  began  to  see  that,  out  of  so  convention 
al  an  atmosphere  as  Medworth  Square,  I  was  not 
likely  to  gather  any  great  profit  to  my  scheme ; 
that,  if  my  idea  were  ever  to  bear  fruit,  I  must 
set  to  work  among  my  own  particular  friends  in 
my  own  way. 

On  thinking  them  over,  I  determined  to  ap 
proach  Mr.  Julius  C.  Brentin  first,  an  American 
gentleman  whom  I  knew  to  be  above  prejudice, 
and  to  whom  I  could  talk  with  perfect  freedom 
and  security. 

He  is  a  man  of  about  fifty-five,  a  Californian, 
of  medium  height  (which,  like  many  Americans, 
he  always  pronounces  heighth),  with  black  hair, 
black  eyebrows,  and  a  small  black  mustache.  He 
carries  cigars  loose  in  every  pocket,  and  he  will 
drink  whiskey  with  you  with  great  good-humor 
till  the  subject  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul 
crops  up,  when  he  suddenly  becomes  angry,  sus 
picious,  and,  finally,  totally  silent.  And  that 
subject  he  always  introduces  himself,  though  for 
what  reason  I  never  can  conceive,  unless  it  be  to 


48 


quarrel  and  part.  I  had  met  him  in  the  street  a 
day  or  two  before,  when  he  told  me  he  had  re 
cently  married  a  New  York  young  lady  and  was 
staying  at  the  "Victoria"  ;  he  begged  me  to  come 
and  call,  and  on  going  there  I  found  him  chew 
ing  a  green  cigar  in  the  smoking-room,  his  hat 
on  the  bridge  of  his  pugnacious  nose,  and  a  glass 
of  Bourbon  whiskey  beside  him. 

He  reached  me  out  a  hand  from  the  depths  of 
his  breeches  pocket,  as  though  he  had  just  found 
it  there  and  desired  to  make  me  a  present  of  it, 
and  pulled  me  down  by  his  side.  Then  he  gave 
me  a  long,  black  cigar  out  of  his  waistcoat  pocket, 
worked  his  own  round  to  the  farther  corner  of 
his  mouth,  while  with  a  solemn  gesture  he  point 
ed  to  his  trousers,  carefully  turned  up  over  small 
patent-leather  boots. 

"Mr.  Blacker,''  he  said,  "observe  my  pants. 
I  am  endeavoring  to  please  Mrs.  Brentin  ;  I  am 
striving  to  be  English.  You  English  invariably 
turn  up  the  bottom  of  your  pants  ;  it  is  econom 
ical  and  it  is  fashionable,  don't  yer  know."  And 
Mr.  Brentin  winked  at  me  a  glittering,  beady 
black  eye. 

I  hoped  Mrs.  Brentin  was  quite  well,  and  he 
replied  : 

"Mrs.  Brentin  has  gone  way  off  to  Ilolborn, 
sir  ;  she  has  organized  an  expedition  with  Mrs. 
William  Chivers,  ay  socially  prominent  Philadel- 
phian,  in  search  of  the  scene  of  the  labors  of 
your  Mrs.  Gamp.  From  there  she  goes  to  the 
Marshalsea,  to  discover  traces  of  Little  Dorrit. 
She  knows  your  Charles  Dickens  by  heart,  sir, 


and  she  follows  him  ayroimtl.  This  is  her  first 
visit  to  the  old  country,  and  I  humor  her  tastes, 
which  are  literary  and  high-toned,  by  staying  at 
home  and  practising  the  English  accent.  I  have 
studied  the  English  accent  theoretically,  and  I 
trace  it  to  the  predominance  among  your  people 
of  the  waist  muscles.  We  as  a  nation  are  de 
ficient  in  waist  muscles.  So  I  stay  at  home  and 
exercise  them  in  the  refined  society  of  any  stran 
ger  who  can  be  indooced  to  talk  with  me.  It  is 
a  labor  of  some  difficulty,  Mr.  Blacker,  which  is 
gradually  driving  me  to  drink  ;  for  the  strangers 
in  this  hotel  are  shy,  and  apt  to  regard  me  in  the 
unflattering  light  of  ay  bunco-steerer." 

Mr.  Brentin  sighed,  drank,  and  worked  his  jaw 
and  cigar  with  the  solemnity  of  a  cow  masticating. 

"  At  other  times,  sir,"  he  drawled.  "I  stroll  a 
block  or  two,  way  down  the  Strand.  I  compose 
my  features  and  endeavor  to  assoom  the  vacant 
expression  of  ay  hayseed  or  countryman.  I  have 
long  desired  to  be  approached  by  one  of  your 
confidence-trick  desperadoes,  but  my  success  so 
far  has  been  mighty  small.  They  keep  away  from 
me,  sir,  as  though  I  had  the  grippe.  I  appre 
hend,  Mr.  Blacker,  that  in  my  well-meant  efforts 
to  look  imbecyle,  I  only  look  cunning.  If  they 
would  only  try  me  with  the  green-goods  swindle, 
I  should  feel  my  time  was  not  being  altogether 
misspent.  It  is  plaguy  disheartening,  and  I  might 
as  well  be  back  in  Xoo  York  for  all  the  splurge 
I  am  making  over  here.  And  how  have  you 
been  putting  in  your  time,  sir,  since  last  year, 
when  we  went  down  to  the  Durby — I  should  say, 


the  Darby  —  together?"  he  asked,  turning  his 
head  my  way. 

On  any  other  day,  I  have  no  doubt,  I  should 
have  given  Mr.  Breiitin  a  spirited  and  somewhat 
lengthy  sketch  of  my  doings  during  the  last  year 
and  a  half ;  but  my  recent  failures  in  Medworth 
Square  had  taught  me  the  value  of  time,  and  I 
plunged  at  once  into  the  real  object  of  my  visit. 

Directly,  in  rapid,  clear -cut  outline,  I  began 
to  make  my  scheme  clear,  Mr.  Brentin  turned 
and  looked  at  me  ;  from  the  rigid  lines  of  my 
speaking  countenance  he  saw  at  once  I  was  in 
earnest,  and  transferred  his  gaze  to  his  pants  and 
boots.  Once  only  he  gave  me  another  rapid 
look,  an  ocular  upper-cut,  apparently  to  satisfy 
himself  of  my  sincerity,  when  my  mask  spoke 
so  strongly  of  enthusiasm  and  determination  I 
felt  I  had  completely  reassured  him,  and  was,  in 
fact,  gradually  overhauling  his  will.  As  I  went 
on,  he  began  to  breathe  gustily  through  his  nose 
and  give  a  series  of  small  kicks  with  his  varnished 
toe,  indications  of  growing  ardor  for  the  enter 
prise  and  a  desire  to  immediately  set  about  it 
that  simply  enchanted  me. 

When  I  descended  to  details,  it  was  my  turn 
to  watch  him.  The  cigar  he  was  chewing  was  a 
complete  indicator  of  his  frame  of  mind.  As  I 
spoke  of  half  a  dozen  resolute  men  with  revolvers, 
it  rose  to  the  horizontal  ;  when  I  mentioned  the 
steam-j-acht  and  a  bolt  for  the  harbor,  it  drooped 
like  a  trailed  stick ;  while,  as  I  sketched  our  rapid 
flight  to  the  Greek  Archipelago  and  division  of 
the  spoil,  it  stuck  up  like  a  peacock's  tail,  a  true 


51 


standard  of  revolt  against  the  narrowness  and 
timidity  of  our  modern  life. 

The  American  mind  works  so  quickly  I  was 
not  at  all  surprised  when  Mr.  Brentin  suddenly 
sat  up,  took  the  cigar  out  of  his  mouth,  and  hurled 
it  to  the  other  end  of  the  smoking-room. 

Bravo  !  for  I  knew  it  signified  away  with  prej 
udice,  away  with  conventionality,  away,  above 
all,  with  fear  !  It  was  a  silent,  triumphant  "  Jacta 
est  alea,  Rubicon  transiMmus !" 

Then  he  turned  to  me. 

"Mr.  Blacker,''  he  excitedly  whispered,  "  by 
the  particular  disposition  of  Providence  there  is 
a  party  now  lying  up-stairs,  ay  titled  gentleman 
with  an  enlarged  liver,  the  fruit  of  some  years 
spent  in  your  colonial  service,  who  owns  and  de 
sires  to  part  with  one,  at  all  events,  of  the  instru 
ments  of  this  enterprise  of  ours." 

"  The  yacht  ?" 

"The  steam-yacht,  sir.  It  is  called  the  Ama 
ranth,  and  lies  at  this  moment  at  Ryde." 

"What  is  the  owner's  name  ?" 

"He  was  good  enough  to  introdooce  himself 
to  me  one  afternoon  last  week  in  the  parlor  as 
Sir  Anthony  Hipkins." 

"Hipkins  ?     That  doesn't  sound  right." 

"Sir,"  replied  Mr.  Brentin,  "  I  know  very  lit 
tle  of  your  titled  aristocracy,  but  I  admit  it  did 
not  sound  right  to  me.  However,  I  talked  it 
over  with  my  friend,  the  clerk  in  the  bureau,  and 
he  assured  me  that  Hipkins  is  his  real  name  ; 
that  he  has  been  for  some  years  judge  on  the 
Gold  Coast,  and,  by  the  personal  favor  of  your 


52 


Queen  Victoria,  has  been  lately  elevated  to  the 
dignity  of  knighthood,  as  some  compensation  for 
his  complaint  caught  in  the  service.  He  had 
the  next  room  to  us,  but  the  midnight  groaning- 
act  in  which  he  occasionally  indulged  was  too 
much  for  Mrs.  Brentin,  and  we  were  forced  to 
shift." 

"  Has  he  spoken  to  you  about  his  yacht  ?" 

"  He  introdooced  himself  right  here  in  the 
parlor,  and  offered  it  me  for  three  thousand 
pounds." 

"  What  did  you  say  ?" 

"I  presented  him  to  Mrs.  Brentin  right  away, 
as  I  invariably  do  when  I  want  an  inconvenient 
request  refused.  She  explained  that  ay  steam- 
yacht  was  very  little  use  to  her  in  the  journeys 
she  is  at  present  taking  about  this  city  in  search 
of  the  localities  of  Charles  Dickens.  Whereupon 
Judge  Hipkins,  who  impressed  me  as  being 
brainy,  immediately  replied,  'What  about  Yar 
mouth  and  little  Em'ly  ?'" 

"  What  did  Mrs.  Brentin  say  to  that  ?" 

"Why,  sir,  Mrs.  Brentin  thought  three  thou 
sand  pounds  too  much  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of 
approaching  Yarmouth  by  sea ;  more  especially 
as  she  is  a  bad  sailor,  and  commences  to  be  sick 
at  her  stomach  before  leaving  the  kay-side.  Now, 
however,  Mr.  Blacker,"  he  said,  rising,  "we  will, 
if  you  please,  go  and  find  Sir  Anthony  Hipkins, 
and  we  will  buy  his  steam-yacht." 

The  rapidity  of  the  American  mind  somewhat 
alarmed  me  ;  still,  I  felt  there  was  nothing  for  it 
but  to  follow  Mr.  Brentin.  He  went  straight  to 


53 


the  bureau,  and,  on  inquiring  for  Sir  Anthony, 
learned  he  was  up-stairs  ill  in  bed,  and  that  his 
wife  was  with  him. 

As  we  went  up  in  the  lift,  Mr.  Brentin  winked 
at  me.  "It  is  in  our  favor,  sir,  that  the  judge 
is  sick ;  we  will  be  sympathetic,  but  we  will 
not  offer  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds." 

We  found  No.  246,  and  Mr.  Brentin  knocked. 
A  deep  groaning  voice  called  to  us  to  come  in. 

"The  judge  must  be  real  bad  if  he  has  sent 
for  his  wife/'  observed  Mr.  Brentin.  "  On  reflec 
tion,  we  Avill  try  him  with  two  thousand.  Come 
right  alawng  in,  sir,  and  I  will  present  you." 

I  followed  him  into  the  bedroom,  and  there  we 
found  Sir  Anthony  lying,  propped  up  in  bed. 
He  was  a  long,  gaunt  man,  with  a  grizzling 
beard,  a  hook-nose,  like  a  tulwar,  and  a  quantity 
of  rough,  brown  hair  turning  gray.  By  his  side 
was  sitting  a  small,  dry,  prim  old  lady,  reading 
from  a  book,  with  gold  pince-nez,  and  notwith 
standing  our  entrance  she  went  steadily  on. 

"  Stop  that  now,  Nanny,"  Sir  Anthony  called, 
fretfully,  stretching  his  hand  out  of  the  bed  over 
the  page,  "and  let  us  hear  what  these  men  want." 

"  Sir  Anthony  and  Lady  Ilipkins,"  said  Mr. 
Brentin,  politely,  with  a  bow  to  each,  his  hat  in 
his  hand,  "permit  me  to  present  to  you  my 
young  friend,  Mr.  Vincent  Blacker.  He  is  in 
want  of  a  yacht,  and  though  he  has  his  eye  on 
several,  would  be  glad  to  learn  particulars  of 
yours  before  concluding." 

Sir  Anthony  rolled  his  bony  head  on  the  pillow 


and  groaned.  Directly  lie  withdrew  his  hand 
from  the  page  the  dry  old  lady  Avent  on  with  her 
reading  in  a  curious,  dull,  flat  voice.  Mr. 
Brentin  came  to  the  foot  of  the  bed,  and,  leaning 
his  arms  on  the  brass  rail,  surveyed  him  sym 
pathetically. 

"Are  you  too  sick,  judge/''  he  asked,  "to  dis 
cuss  business  matters  with  us  ?" 

"And  in  the  eleventh  year  of  Jo  ram,  the  son  of 
Alia!) — "  droned  her  ladyship. 

"Go  away,  Nanny,"  shouted  Sir  Anthony, 
pointing  to  the  opposite  door ;  "go  into  the  next 
room,  or  go  out  and  take  a  walk." 

Mr.  Brentin  opened  the  door,  and,  after  put 
ting  the  Bible  on  the  bed  under  Sir  Anthony's 
big  nose,  Lady  Hipkins  left  the  room  quietly,  as 
she  was  directed. 

"You're  Mr.  Brentin,  ain't  you  ?"  asked  the 
judge.  "Beg  your  pardon  for  not  recognizing 
you.  What  did  you  say  your  friend's  name  was  ?" 

Mr.  Brentin  explained  that  I  was  Mr.  Vincent 
Blacker,  a  gentleman  of  position  and  the  highest 
integrity,  an  officer  in  Queen  Victoria's  militia. 

"Oh,  ah  !"  said  the  judge,  sitting  up  in  bed 
and  scratching  his  legs  ruefully.  "  And  he  wants 
to  buy  a  yacht  ?" 

"He  has  almost  concluded  for  the  purchase  of 
one,"  Mr.  Brentin  replied,  "but  I  have  suggested 
he  should  Avait — " 

The  judge  began  most  unexpectedly  to  laugh, 
bending  his  head  between  his  knees  and  stifling 
his  merriment  Avith  the  counterpane. 

"The  judge  is  better,"  observed  Mr.  Brentin, 


55 


with  a  wave  of  his  hand.  "  The  presence  of 
gentlemen  who  sympathize  with  his  complaint, 
and  the  likelihood  of  completing — 

"It's  too  damn  ridiculous,"  laughed  the  judge, 
"  to  be  caught  shamming  Abraham  like  this,  by 
George!  Serves  me  right.  You  see,  Mr.  Blacker, 
after  three  years  of  the  Gold  Coast  I  was  natu 
rally  anxious  to  see  whether  London  had  greatly  al 
tered  in  my  absence,  and,  consequently,  neglected 
to  go  and  reside  at  Norwood  with  her  ladyship. 
Whereupon  her  ladyship  wrote,  demanding  the 
reason  of  my  lengthy  stay  in  the  metropolis. 
What  was  I  to  do  but  say  I  was  too  ill  to  move, 
but  that  the  minute  I  was  well  enough —  Sir 
Anthony  went  off  laughing  again,  and  I  laughed 
too. 

"  But  that  midnight  groaning- act  of  yours, 
judge,"  asked  the  shocked  Brentin,  "which  so 
much  disturbed  and  alarmed  Mrs.  Brentin  and 
myself  ?" 

"Oh,  that  was  genuine  enough,"  chuckled  Sir 
Anthony;  "  but  it  was  more  the  thought  of  hav 
ing  to  go  to  Norwood  and  attend  the  concerts  at 
the  Crystal  Palace  than  any  actual  physical  pain." 

Mr.  Brentin's  visage  clouded  over,  and  he 
grew  sombre  and  grave.  With  true  American 
chivalry,  he  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  any  one 
imposing  on  a  woman,  especially  an  old  and  plain 
one. 

"  However,"  said  the  judge,  "  I'm  rightly  pun 
ished  by  her  ladyship's  descending  on  me  and 
forcing  me  to  go  to  bed  —  not  to  mention  the 
Book  of  Kings,  and  all  my  smoke  cut  off." 


56 


"  This  will  be  ay  lesson  to  you,  judge,  I  trust," 
observed  Mr.  Brentin,  sternly. 

"  First  and  second  lesson,  by  George  !  And 
now  let's  talk  about  the  yacht.  Your  friend 
wants  to  buy  a  yacht  ?" 

I  must  say  I  was  a  good  deal  alarmed  at  Bren- 
tin's  coolness  and  precipitancy  in  so  readily  bring 
ing  me  forward  as  purchaser  of  the  Amaranth, 
and,  as  I  listened  to  their  conversation,  quite 
made  up  my  mind  not  to  bind  myself  irrevoca 
bly  to  anything.  Three,  or  even  two,  thousand 
pounds  !  My  idea  was  doubtless  a  remarkable 
one,  but  I  had  no  notion  of  backing  it  to  that 
amount — at  all  events,  with  my  own  money.  So, 
with  an  air  of  sham  gravity,  I  listened,  assuming  as 
solid  an  air  of  wealth  as  I  could  on  so  short  a 
notice,  determined  at  the  last  moment  to  make 
the  necessary  fatal  objections,  which  would  final 
ly  effectually  prevent  my  being  saddled  with  the 
thing. 

The  judge  explained  that  the  yacht  had  only 
just  been  left  him  by  an  uncle  who  had  died  very 
suddenly  in  the  "Albany";  that  it  was  in  com 
plete  order,  ready  victualled  and  manned  ;  that 
it  had  usually  been  sent  round  to  the  Riviera,  and 
joined  there  overland  by  his  uncle,  who  spent  the 
winter  months  on  board  till  the  advent  of  spring 
enabled  him  to  return  to  London  ;  that  there  it 
was  lying  at  Hyde,  awaiting  his  orders,  and  that  he 
had  accidentally  heard  that  Captain  Evans,  in  de 
fault  of  instructions,  was  actually  employing  it 
for  excursions  on  his  own  behalf,  and  taking  the 
Ryde  people  for  trips  in  the  Solent  and  runs  over 


57 


to  Bournemouth  at  so  much  a  head  when  the 
weather  was  favorable  ;  which  would  all  have 
to  be  accounted  for,  added  the  judge,  of  course. 
It  was  a  large  yacht,  of  about  four  hundred 
tons,  and,  rather  than  bo  bothered  with  it,  the 
judge  Avould  let  it  go  for  three  thousand  pounds. 

"  Why  don't  you  go  down  and  see  it,''  he 
asked,  "  before  you  decide  ?  And,  if  I  were  you, 
I  wouldn't  let  Evans  know  you  are  coming;  if  it's 
a  fine  day,  you  are  sure  to  catch  him  at  some  of 
his  little  games,  and  that  '11  give  you  a  hold  over 
him." 

"Three  thousand  pounds  is  ay  largo  sum  of 
money,  judge,"  objected  Mr.  Brentin. 

"Not  bad  ;  but  then  it's  a  large  yacht.  Now 
look  here,  don't  you  haggle  with  me,"  he  went 
on,  irritably,  "because  I  don't  like  it.  You  can 
either  take  it  or  leave  it.  I  won't  let  it  go  for  a 
penny  less.  Kather  than  that,  I'll  go  and  live  on 
board  and  spend  my  time  crossing  between  Ports 
mouth  and  the  island.  I  should  be  safe  from 
her  ladyship,  at  any  rate,  for  even  coming  up  in 
the  lift  upsets  her." 

We  shook  his  hand  and  left  him  composing 
himself  to  receive  Lady  Ilipkins  again.  She  was 
walking  up  and  down  the  corridor  as  we  came 
out,  and  Mr.  Brentin  went  up  to  her  and  bowed. 

"The  judge  is  real  bad,  ma'am,"  he  said,  with 
great  gravity,  "and  should  not  be  left.  He  has 
been  explaining  to  us  what  a  comfort  you  and 
your  reading  are  to  him,  and  how  much  he  looks 
forward  to  being  taken  down  to  Norwood  and 
nursed  back  to  his  former  ro-bust  health  at  your 


58 


hands.  If  I  may  venture  to  advise,  you  should 
procure  a  hotel  conveyance  as  soon  as  possible 
and  drive  him  way  down  home  by  easy  stages. 
The  air  in  this  city,  ma'am,  is  not  good  for  ay 
man  of  the  judge's  temperament  and  physique." 

"You  have  a  kind  face/'  her  ladyship  an 
swered,  in  her  strange,  flat  voice,  "and  mean 
kindly,  I  am  sure.  But  I  am  extremely  deaf, 
and  have  not  heard  one  word  you  have  said. 
Perhaps  you  would  kindly  write  it  down  for  me?" 
she  added,  handing  him  a  little  book. 

"It's  of  no  consequence,"  bawled  Mr.  Brentin 
through  his  hands.  "Good-afternoon  !" 

"Why  doesn't  the  old  shakes  carry  a  trum 
pet  ?"  he  said,  angrily,  as  we  went  down-stairs. 
"  What's  the  matter  with  a  trumpet  ?" 

In  the  hall,  before  leaving  him,  I  hastened  to 
explain  I  had  no  thought  of  expending  three 
thousand  pounds  in  the  purchase  of  Sir  An 
thony's  or  any  yacht  whatsoever;  that  my  contri 
bution  to  the  expedition  would  be  the  idea,  and 
so  many  of  the  resolute  men  as  I  could  lay  hands 
on  among  my  friends. 

"  That  will  be  all  right,  Mr.  Blacker,"  Brentin 
loftily  replied;  "I  will  see  after  the  yacht  portion 
of  the  affair.  It  can  be  made  good  to  me,  if  I  run 
short,  out  of  the  boodle,  and,  if  it  all  fails,  I  have 
no  doubt  I  shall  have  my  money  value  in  excite 
ment.  In  the  mean  time,  sir,  let  us  waltz  in  and 
secure  the  yacht,  to  begin  with.  If  you  will  be 
free  in  the  morning,  we  will  descend  upon  Ryde 
and  Captain  Evans.  If  we  find  him  going  to  sea, 
so  much  the  better  ;  we  shall  have  the  opportu- 


59 


nity  of  testing  the  sailing  capacities  of  the  Ama 
ranth,  (rood-day  to  yon,  sir.  I  have  to  thank 
you  for  infusing  my  exhossted  veins  with  a  breath 
of  the  true  spirit  of  the  forty-niners,  who  made 
the  State  of  California  what  she  is.  The  hold 
ing  up  of  ay  Sacramento  bank  will  be  nothing  to 
this,  sir,  if  we  don't  spile — that  is,  spoil — it." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

WE  GO  TO  RYDE — THE  AMARANTH — ACCIDENTAL  MEET 
ING  WITH  ARTHUR  MASTERS  AND  HIS  LADY  FRIEND— 
I  ENROLL  HIM  AMONG  US  PROVISIONALLY  —  WE  DECIDE 
TO  PURCHASE  THE  YACHT 

I  DOX'T  know  that  it  would  bo  altogether  nec 
essary  to  the  course  of  the  narrative  of  this  work 
to  say  much  about  our  visit  to  Kyde  and  the 
Amaranth  were  it  not  that,  while  there,  we  ac 
cidentally  encountered  Arthur  Masters,  an  old 
friend  and  school-fellow  of  mine.  He  was  stay 
ing  at  Seaview,  and,  being  in  a  mazed  condition 
of  lovelornness  (for  nothing  short  of  it  would 
have  induced  him  to  neglect  the  harriers  of  which 
he  is  master  in  Hertfordshire),  had  come  over  for 
the  day  with  the  young  lady,  and  was  spending 
it  there  mainly  on  the  pier,  being  uncommonly 
warm  and  fine  for  November. 

Mr.  Brentin  and  I  had  just  arrived,  and  were 
keeping  our  weather-eye  open  for  the  Amaranth, 
when  we  came  on  Arthur  and  his  young  lady  sit 
ting  on  the  pier  in  the  sun.  She  was  introduced 
to  us  as  Miss  Ilybot,  and  wore  a  straw  hat  and  a 
shirt,  just  as  though  it  were  summer. 

We  told  them  we  had  come  down  about  a 
yacht,  and,  if  we  could  only  find  her,  were  think- 


61 


ing  of  making  a  small  trial-trip  across  the  So 
lent. 

As  we  were  talking  and  persuading  them  to 
accompany  ns,  np  comes  a  sailor  in  a  blue  jersey, 
with  Amaranth  across  it  in  red,  and  hands  ns  a 
printed  bill. 

"  The  Amaranth,  fast  xleam- yacht  (Captain  Evans,  Com 
mander'),  will  Kail  daily  from  Rydc  pier  -  head  (weather  per 
mitting)  for  a  two  hours'  trip  in  the  Solent.  Fares :  /Saloon, 
half  a  crown;  fore  cabin,  ones/tilling.'" 

"  Doing  much  business  ?"  asked  Mr.  Brentin 
carelessly,  cocking  his  eye  011  the  man. 

"Pretty  fair,  mister,"  the  sailor  replied,  "when 
the  weather's  like  this.  There's  a  good  few  aboard 
already." 

"Is  there  ?"  Mr.  Brentin  innocently  remarked. 
"All  right.  Give  Captain  Evans  Sir  Anthony 
Ilipkins's  compliments  and  say  we  will  come 
aboard  right  away." 

"  Sir  Anthony  !  Lord  love  you  !"  ejaculated 
the  sailor,  and  was  off  pretty  fast  down  to  the 
pier-head. 

"  We  will  give  the  captain  a  few  minutes  to 
clear  out  his  Eyde  friends,"  observed  Mr.  Bren 
tin  with  a  wink,  "  and  then  we  will  pro-ceed." 

And,  sure  enough,  as  we  got  leisurely  down  to 
the  pier-head  there  AVC  found  a  boat  just  landing 
from  the  Amaranth,  half  a  dozen  excursionists 
in  her  with  hand-bags  and  bottles,  talking  fast 
among  themselves  and  giving  frightened  glances 
back  at  the  yacht  lying  in  the  tideway  two  or 
three  hundred  yards  oft'. 


62 


"  Anything  wrong  on  board,  my  friend  ?" 
drawled.  Mr.  Brentin  to  a  large,  puce-faced  man 
with  a  red  comforter  loosely  knotted  round  his 
throat,  as  he  clambered  up  the  pier  steps. 

"  Anythin'  wrong  ?"  echoed  the  terrified  man. 
"  Captain  says  rust  'as  suddenly  got  into  the  b'il- 
ers  and  'e's  afraid  they'll  bust.  That's  all  ! — 
Mother,  where's  Emma  ?" 

"  We  shall  have  the  ship  to  ourselves,"  re 
marked  Mr.  Brentin.  "  Music  provided,  too. 
Sakes  alive  !" 

The  music  was  a  harp,  a  cornet,  and  a  stout 
woman  with  a  large  accordion  slung  on  her  back. 
The  cornettist,  a  battered -looking  young  man 
with  one  eye,  carried  a  shell  for  collecting  the 
money,  and  a  camp-stool. 

"Oh,  don't  go!"  drawled  Mr.  Brentin;  "we 
have  a  passion  for  music  on  the  waters." 

"  'Ave  you  ?"  cried  the  sarcastic  cornettist. 
"Well,  I  'ope  you'll  like  gittin'  blown  up,  too. 
Full  steam  a'ead,  mates  !  Now  then,  missis,  out 
of  the  way  !" 

Off  they  all  trooped  together  as  fast  as  they 
could  down  the  length  of  the  pier,  giving  occa 
sional  frightened  glances  back  at  the  yacht,  which 
began  to  blow  us  a  sycophantish  salute  with  her 
whistle. 

"  The  only  person  who  will  get  blown  up  to 
day,"  observed  Mr.  Brentin  as  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  boat,  "will  be  Captain  Evans." 

All  this  time  Miss  Rybot  had  scarcely  said  a 
word.  She  was  rather  a  haughty,  not  to  say 
disagreeable -looking,  young  lady;  tall,  slightly 


63 


freckled,  with  a  high  nose  and  a  quantity  of 
beautiful  auburn  hair.  She  appeared  to  take  the 
situation  with  the  utmost  indifference,  and  not 
in  the  least  to  care  whether  she  stayed  on  shore 
or  went  to  sea  and  never  came  back.  Altogether 
the  sort  of  young  lady  who  might  lead  an  adorer 
rather  a  dance. 

"  Get  under  way  at  once,  if  you  please,  Cap 
tain  Evans,"  said  Mr.  Brentin,  sternly,  as  we 
came  on  board  and  found  the  captain  waiting 
for  us,  exceedingly  alarmed,  his  cap  in  his  hand. 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir  !"  bleated  the  captain.  "  Where 
to  ?" 

"Anywhere  where  we  can  give  the  yacht's  speed 
a  fair  trial.  What's  the  matter  with  our  going 
round  the  island  ?" 

"  There's  nothing  the  matter  with  it,  sir,  that 
I  am  aware  of,"  answered  the  startled  Evans. 

"  Then  make  it  so  !  And  then  come  and  give 
rno  a  few  moments'  conversation  in  the  saloon. 
For  the  use  of  which,"  Mr.  Brentin  gravely 
added,  "  I  do  not  propose  to  pay  half  a  dollar." 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir  !"  And  off  we  bustled  towards 
Spithead. 

"Where  will  you  sit,  Miss  Kybot  ?"  Masters 
asked,  humbly. 

"Anywhere  out  of  the  wind,"  was  the  indif 
ferent  answer  ;  "and  be  good  enough,  please,  to 
leave  me  to  myself  for  a  little.  1  wish  to  collect 
my  thoughts,  and  you  have,  no  doubt,  a  good 
deal  to  talk  over  with  your  friend." 

The  unfortunate  Masters  found  her  a  sheltered 
seat  (which  she  soon  left  and  selected  another), 


6-1 


wrapped  her  legs  in  a  rug  (which  she  promptly 
threw  off),  and  then  came  and  sat  himself  down 
by  me. 

"  She's  an  orphan,"  he  whispered,  hiting  his 
nails,  "and  has  to  teach.  I  met  her  at  Seaview. 
She  has  forty  pounds  a  year  of  her  own,  and  has 
one  little  nasty  pupil,  whom  she  loathes.  She's  a 
strict  Koman  Catholic,  and  talks  of  entering  a 
convent,  but  she's  a  good  deal  in  debt,  and  wants 
to  pay  off  her  debts  first.  She  talks  of  going  to 
Monte  Carlo  and  winning  enough  at  the  tables  to 
pay  her  debts,  and  then  becoming  a  Poor  Clare." 
"  A  Poor  Clare?" 

"  They're  a  strictly  enclosed  order,"  he  groaned; 
"  they  keep  a  perpetual  fast,  have  no  beds,  and 
go  barefooted.      They    spend  all  their  time  in 
prayer  and  meditation,  and  live  on  alms." 
"  Then  they  don't  marry,  I  suppose  ?" 
"  Don't  I  tell  you  they're  strictly  enclosed?" 
"  How  long  have  you  known  her  ?" 
"About  a   month.     1  met   her   at  a  friend's 
house  at  Seaview." 

"  Have  you  said  anything  to  her  yet  ?" 
"  Nothing  very  definite.     I  was  going  to  to 
day.     But  I  don't  believe  it  will  be  any  use,"  he 
sighed;  "she  seems  bent  on  the  convent." 

"  Do  you  think  she  suspects  your  attach 
ment  ?" 

"  Oh,  she  must  by  this  time.  I've  given  up 
several  days'  golf  for  her.  But  she's  so  con 
foundedly  independent  and  thinks  so  badly  of 
men.  She  fancies  they're  all  after  her  because 
she's  poor." 


65 


"  Extraordinary  young  person  !" 

"  Well,  she  says  that  if  a  man  knows  a  girl's 
poor  he  always  believes  she's  only  too  ready  to 
marry  him,  just  to  escape  from  teaching  and  se 
cure  a  comfortable  home.  That's  the  sort  of  girl 
she  is  ;  she  swears  she  won't  be  purchased.  What 
am  I  to  do  ?  What  do  you  advise  ?" 

I  gave  him  plenty  of  sound  advice,  but  could 
see  he  wasn't  attending  to  me.  At  last  he  roused 
himself  to  ask  about  my  affairs.  He  had  heard 
the  Mabel  Harker  entanglement  was  over,  and 
naturally  supposed  there  was  some  one  else.  So 
off  I  went  about  Lucy  and  "The  French  Horn," 
describing  her  minutely,  and  how  unhappy  I  was, 
and  how  I  was  going  down  there  at  Christmas  to 
make  it  all  up,  and  that  in  the  mean  time — 

"Then  you  would  speak  to  her  to-day  and  get 
some  definite  answer  out  of  her  ?"  he  asked,  bit 
ing  his  nails. 

"  How  can  I  to-day,  when  she's  miles  away  in 
the  Ladbroke  Grove  Koad  ?" 

Masters  stared,  and  I  saw,  of  course,  he  hadn't 
been  attending  and  was  only  thinking  of  himself. 

With  his  mind  in  so  confused  and  despondent 
a  condition,  I  judged  the  opportunity  excellent 
to  try  and  get  him  to  join  us  ;  so,  after  a  few  cau 
tious  preliminaries,  I  drew  closer  and  let  him  into 
the  whole  secret  of  our  visit  to  Eyde  and  trial 
of  the  yacht,  giving  him  to  understand  that  Mr. 
Brentin  was  already  one  of  the  heads  of  the  en 
terprise,  and  that,  if  I  couldn't  get  the  necessary 
half-dozen  resolute  Englishmen,  he  would  easily 
fill  their  places  with  the  same  number  of  ditto 


66 


Americans,  from  the  hotels  in  Northumberland 
Avenue  ;  which  would  cause  me  some  national 
shame,  I  said,  and  give  me  ground  for  fearing 
the  ancient  spirit  of  the  country  was  really  gone 
and  dribbled  off  into  mere  stock-jobbing,  as  so 
many  people  assert — Drake  and  the  Gilberts  and 
Raleigh  having  shuffled  into  Capel  Court,  tout 
ing  on  curb -stones  like  Hamburg  peddlers  or 
ready -money  pencillers,  instead  of  taking  the 
broad  and  daring  road  of  nerve  and  valor. 

Further,  I  seductively  pointed  out  there  would 
be  no  sort  of  reason  why  Miss  Rybot  shouldn't 
be  of  the  party  and  try  legitimately  to  win  enough 
at  the  tables  to  pay  her  debts,  if  her  heart  was 
set  on  it ;  which  would  free  her  from  all  obliga 
tion  towards  him  and  bring  about  their  marriage 
in  the  most  natural  way ;  and  that  if  a  chape 
ron  were  needed,  I  would  engage  to  supply  one, 
whether  the  young  lady  went  to  Monte  Carlo  by 
land  or  by  sea. 

As  I  had  already  experienced,  different  men 
take  an  announcement  of  this  high  order  in  dif 
ferent  ways  —  some  are  shocked,  some  incredu 
lous  ;  some  see  all  the  difficulties  at  once,  some 
never  see  any.  As  for  Arthur  Masters,  he  was  in 
such  a  state  of  depression  that  I  believe  if  I  had 
said,  "  Arthur,  we  are  going  North  to  root  up  the 
Pole  ;  will  you  make  one  ?'"'  he'd  have  answered, 
"  Delighted  \"  and  been  off  to  Beale  &  Inman's  at 
once  to  order  the  necessary  outfit. 

At  all  events,  what  he  did  say  was,  that  if  Miss 
Rybot  could  be  induced  to  come,  he  would  cer 
tainly  come  too,  and  do  his  best,  charging  him- 


67 


self  with  the  duty  of  feeling  his  way  with  her, 
and  promising  to  let  me  know  the  result  as  soon 
as  possible.  He  only  stipulated  he  should  not 
be  away  longer  than  a  fortnight  in  January,  be 
cause  of  his  harriers,  which  all  this  time  were 
being  rather  inefficiently  hunted  by  his  younger 
brother  and  the  dog  boy. 

We  got  back  safely  to  Ryde,  thoroughly  satis 
fied  with  our  outing  and  the  behavior  of  the 
Amaranth,  and  caught  the  six-o'clock  train  back 
to  Victoria. 

Mr.  Brentin  had  unfortunately  taken  a  strong 
dislike  to  Miss  Rybot,  and  imitated  her  cold, 
haughty  "Really  !  you  don't  say  so  !"  and  other 
stand-offish  little  speeches,  most  of  the  way  up. 
The  imitation  was  not  in  the  least  like,  of  course, 
but  served  to  show  me  the  scornful  bent  of  his 
mind  towards  her.  When  I  told  him  I  had  se 
cured  Masters  on  the  condition  she  came  too,  he 
grew  quite  angry,  and  declared  that  whatever 
route  she  took  he  should  most  certainly  take  the 
other,  rather  than  be  frozen  in  her  society.  lie 
added,  as  a  further  ground  of  dislike,  she  was 
"pop-eyed" — a  somewhat  unjust  description  of 
her  slightly  prominent,  large,  cold,  gray  optics. 

As  for  Captain  Evans  and  his  little  game  of 
using  the  yacht  for  excursions  on  his  own  ac 
count,  the  captain  had  given  the,  to  me,  rather 
lame  explanation  that  yachts  left  idle  came  to  no 
good,  and  should,  in  short,  be  taken  out  for  exer 
cise  just  like  horses.  Questioned  why  he  didn't 
go  out  without  company,  he  averred  he  must 
have  ballast  or  the  yacht  would  throb  her  sides 


68 


out,  and  that  he  thought  he  might  as  well  make 
the  ballast  pay.  Also  that  he  had  kept  a  most 
careful  record  of  receipts,,  and  was  prepared  to 
account  for  every  farthing  to  the  rightful  own 
ers,  whoever  they  should  turn  out  to  be. 

In  short,  as  is  so  often  the  case,  Captain  Evans 
had  managed  to  prove  quite  conclusively  that  Mr. 
Brentin  was  entirely  in  the  wrong  in  suspecting 
his  proceedings,  and  that  he  was  a  much  injured 
and  wholly  innocent  British  sailor. 

"That,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Brentin,  chewing  his 
cigar  as  we  rattled  along  in  the  train,  "has  hap 
pened  to  me  more  than  once  with  your  lower 
orders.  I  go  into  my  tailor's  with  my  noo  coat 
bulging  at  the  back,  bursting  with  ay  sense  of 
injury  at  the  misfit  considering  the  price  I  have 
paid.  And  that  tailor  keeps  cool  while  I  stamp 
around  ;  he  surveys  me  with  ay  pitying  smile,  he 
calls  up  his  assistants  to  admire  the  fit,  and  he 
proves  to  me  con-clusively  that  the  best  part  of 
that  coat  is  precisely  the  bulge  in  the  back,  and 
that  I  shall  injure  his  reputation  and  ruin  the 
coat  if  I  have  it  touched.  I  enter  that  store, 
sir,  like  ay  raging  lion,  and  I  leave  it  ay  teeth 
ing  lamb,  my  mouth  overflowing  with  apologies, 
which  the  damn  tailor  will  scarcely  accept.  And 
I  know  he  thinks,  'What  infernal  fools  these 
Yankees  are  !'  and  is  laafing  at  me  in  his  sleeve 
as  the  bulge  and  I  disappear  in  the  crowd  of  his 
other  misfits,  and  are  lost  in  the  night  of  his  paid 
accounts." 

That  same  evening  the  purchase  of  the  yacht 
was  concluded  by  Mr.  Brentin,  as  he  wrote  me 


69 


ill  the  morning ;  directing  me,  further,  to  go  right 
ahead  and  get  the  rest  of  my  desperadoes  togeth 
er  for  a  dash  on  the  tables  in  January.  He  added 
in  a  postscript  that,  for  his  part,  he  was  going 
into  the  city  early  next  morning  to  buy  three 
fair-sized  cannon,  capable  of  throwing  three  fair- 
sized  shells  ;  for,  in  case  anything  went  wrong 
and  we  were  captured,  it  would  be  just  as  well 
to  leave  orders  with  Captain  Evans  to  shell  the 
Casino,  and  so  continue  till  we  were  released  and 
replaced  on  board  the  Amaranth,  with  a  guaran 
tee  for  our  expenses,  and  an  undertaking  for  no 
further  molestation. 

Bold  as  I  am,  owing  in  some  measure  to  my 
militia  training,  the  rapidity  of  the  American 
mind  was  again  causing  me  some  considerable 
qualms. 


CHAPTER  IX 
MY  SISTER'S  SUSPICIONS  —  HEROES  OF  THE  ARGO  —  MY 

SISTER   DETERMINES   TO   COME  WITH   US  AS   CHAPERON 
TO   MISS  11YBOT 

FROM  now  right  on  to  Christmas  I  lived  in  a 
constant  hurry  and  ferment  of  excitement ;  for 
not  only  was  I  full  of  every  sort  of  preparation 
for  our  adventure,,  but  every  day  brought  me 
nearer  "The  French  Horn"  and  my  seeing 
dear  Lucy  once  more.  By  the  second  week  in 
December  I  had  at  last  got  our  party  of  six 
together ;  to  which  number,  for  the  present,  at 
any  rate,  by  Mr.  Brentin's  advice,  it  was  deter 
mined  to  limit  it.  If  it  were  to  be  done  at  all, 
he  said,  six  could  easily  do  it,  and  by  adding 
more  we  were  only  increasing  the  danger  of  the 
affair  leaking  out  and  the  people  at  the  tables 
being  forewarned  and  forearmed ;  neither  of 
which,  though  more  particularly  the  latter,  did 
we  at  all  desire. 

Directly  the  party  was  complete,  I  informed 
Mr.  Brentiu,  and  by  his  directions  gave  them  all 
a  rendezvous  at  "The  French  Horn"  for  Christ 
mas.  He  wished  to  see  us  all  together  he  said, 
and  take  our  measure ;  not  that  he  doubted  I 
had  chosen  the  right  sort,  but  rather  that  he 
might  consider  what  post  should  be  assigned  to 


71 


each — who  should  lead  the  van  and  who  should 
guard  the  rear,  and  who,  if  necessary,  should 
form  the  reserve  and  direct  the  shell-throwing 
on  the  Casino  in  case  of  our  capture. 

Meantime  I  had  been  so  busy  running  over 
the  country,  interviewing  and  persuading,  and 
by  many  being  point-blank  refused,  that  I  had 
quite  neglected  my  sister,  Mrs  Rivers,  and  Med- 
worth  Square  ;  and  whether  it  was  she  suspected 
something  from  my  continued  absence,  or  some 
thing  had  leaked  out  through  Parker  White,  I 
never  could  quite  discover ;  but,  at  any  rate,  she 
one  day  sent  for  me  to  come  to  tea,  and  attacked 
me  at  once  to  know  what  I  was  doing  and  why 
I  never  came  to  the  house. 

From  very  early  days  my  sister  Muriel  has 
been  my  confidante  in  everything.  My  father  I 
scarcely  remember,  beyond  the  fact  that  he 
always  wore  a  white  waistcoat  and  smelt  of 
sherry  when  he  kissed  me,  and  my  dear  mother 
died  in  Jubilee  year — a  very  sad  year,  notwith 
standing  the  universal  illuminations  and  rejoic 
ings,  for  me;  so  to  Muriel  I  have  always  carried 
all  my  troubles  and  griefs,  and  no  better  sister 
for  that  sort  of  work  could  any  man  wish  for. 

Particularly  has  she  always  been  the  sympa 
thetic  recipient  of  my  love-affairs,  with  the 
single  exception  of  my  affair  with  Lucy ;  for 
though  Muriel  isn't  in  the  least  a  snob,  yet  I 
don't  suppose  she  would  have  been  best  pleased 
to  learn  of  her  only  brother's  attachment  to  an 
innkeeper's  daughter,  of  however  old  a  family. 
So  all  she  knew  was  that  the  Mabel  Ilarker 


business  was  at  an  end,  and  was  naturally  Avonder- 
ing  how  my  vagrant  heart  was  being  employed 
meantime  ;  questions  on  which  subject,  however, 
I  had  always  managed  to  shirk. 

Directly  we  were  alone  in  the  Medworth  Square 
morning-room,  she  opened  fire  on  me. 

"Frank  has  been  asking  Avhat  has  become  of 
you  lately,  Vincent,"  she  said — "what  have  you 
been  doing  with  yourself  ?" 

"  I've  been  seeing  a  good  deal  of  some  Ameri 
cans  at  the  'Victoria/ and  a  good  deal  in  and  out 
of  town." 

"  Nothing  else  ?" 

"  Nothing  of  any  importance.  How's  Mol- 
lie  ?" 

"  You  can  go  and  see  Mollie  afterwards.  Now, 
look  here, Vincent,  you're  up  to  something,  and'I 
mean  to  know  what  it  is.  1  can't  have  my  only 
brother  drifting  into  a  scrape,  without  doing  my 
best  to  keep  him  out  of  it.  You'd  better  make 
a  clean  breast.  I  shall  be  sure  to  find  out." 

I'd  half  a  mind  to  tell  her  a  downright  fib  and 
stop  her  importunities  that  way  ;  but  I'd  the  in 
stinct  she  knew  something  of  the  fact,  and  was 
well  aware  that,  if  she  weren't  told  all,  would 
set  her  prig  of  a  husband  to  work  ;  and  then 
our  enterprise  would  as  likely  as  not  be  nipped 
in  the  bud  by  being  made  public  property. 

So,  on  the  whole,  I  judged  it  best  to  tell  her 
exactly  what  we  were  doing  and  were  going  to 
do,  taking  care  only  to  bind  her  over  to  the  com- 
pletest  secrecy,  which,  once  she  had  given  her 
word,  I  knew  she  would  die  sooner  than  break. 


73 


She  was  half  amused,  half  frightened,  and  at 
first  wholly  incredulous. 

"  But  who  on  earth  have  you  found  to  join 
you  in  such  a  cracked  scheme  ?"  she  asked.  "  I 
didn't  know  you'd  so  many  desperate  lunatics 
among  your  acquaintances." 

"  Well,  there's  Arthur  Masters  and  Bob  Hines, 
to  begin  with  ;  you  know  them." 

"  I  don't  think  I  know  Air.  Hines,  do  I  ? 
Who  is  he  ?" 

"  Oh,  he  was  at  Marlborough  with  me,  and 
7iow  keeps  a  boys'  school  at  Folkestone." 

"  A  nice  instructor  of  youth,  to  go  on  an 
expedition  of  this  kind,"  laughed  my  sister. 

"That's  exactly  what  he's  afraid  of  ;  he  says 
if  he's  caught,  it  '11  be  the  end  of  his  business 
and  he'll  have  to  break  stones." 

"  Then  why  does  he  go  ?" 

"Well,  you  see,  he's  very  much  in  want  of  a 
gymnasium  for  his  boys,  and  I've  promised  to 
build  him  one  out  of  the  swag,  if  he'll  join  us." 

"  Tempted  and  fallen !"  said  my  sister. 
"  Really,  Vincent,  you're  a  Mephistopheles. 
And  who  else  ?" 

"  Harold  Forsyth,  of  the  Devon  Borderers." 

"  Is  that  the  little  man  who  always  looks  as  if 
he  was  bursting  out  of  his  clothes  with  over 
eating  ?" 

"  I  dare  say." 

"  But  I  thought  he  was  engaged  to  be  married. 
What's  the  young  lady  about,  to  let  him  go  ?" 

"Well,  the  fact  is,"  said  I,  "the  young  lady 
turns  out  to  be  a  wrong  un,  and  is  now  chasing 


74 


him  about  with  a  writ  for  breach  of  promise  in 
her  glove,  like  a  cab-fare." 

"So  he's  off  to  escape  that?"  said  my  sister. 
"  You're  a  nice  lot.  Any  one  else  ?" 

"Teddy  Parsons,  in  my  militia." 

"He's  a  poor  creature,"  my  sister  observed. 
"  I  shouldn't  take  him ;  why,  all  he  can  do  is 
play  the  banjo  and  walk  about  Southport  in 
breeches  and  gaiters !" 

"  Yes,  but  he's  an  old  friend,  and  I  want  to  do 
him  a  good  turn." 

"  You've  odd  notions  of  doing  people  a  good 
turn,"  Muriel  laughed. 

"The  fact  is,"  I  said,  "he's  rather  in  a  hole 
about  a  bill  of  his  that's  coming  due.  He's  gone 
shares  with  one  of  our  fellows  in  the  regiment 
in  a  steeple-chaser  and  given  him  a  bill  to  meet 
the  expenses  of  training  and  the  purchase  ;  and 
as  the  bill's  coming  due  and  he's  mortally  afraid 
of  his  father — " 

"You  undertake  to  meet  the  bill,  011  the  con 
dition  he  joins  you.  I  see.  And  has  that  been 
the  bes-t  you  can  do  ?  Who's  the  sixth  ?" 

"Mr.  Brentin,  who's  bought  the  yacht;  the 
American  at  the  '"Victoria."' 

"  Well,  all  I  can  say  is,"  said  my  sister,  after 
a  pause,  "you're  rather  a  lame  crew.  Why, 
Teddy  Parsons  alone  is  enough  to  ruin  any 
thing  !" 

"Yes,  I  know,"  I  groaned,  "but  what  is  one 
to  do  ?  I've  been  all  over  the  country  seeing 
men,  but  they're  all  much  too  frightened.  We're 
an  utterly  scratch  lot,  I  know,  but  Breutin  and  I 


must  do  the  best  we  can  with  the  material  and 
trust  to  luck." 

"That  you  most  certainly  will  have  to  do," 
said  my  sister,  with  conviction. 

"  Why  can't  you  come  with  us,"  I  urged,  "  and 
be  the  mascot  of  the  party  ?  We  must  have 
some  one  of  the  kind,  if  only  to  chaperon  Miss 
Rybot." 

"'Dear  me,  who's  Miss  Rybot?" 

"Arthur  Masters's  young  woman,  without  whom 
he  won't  stir." 

Now  my  sister  Muriel  is  like  a  good  many  other 
highly  respectable  Englishwomen  :  she  is  a  most 
faithful  wife  and  devoted  mother,  but  she  doesn't 
care  in  any  particular  degree  about  her  husband, 
and  is  only  too  glad  to  welcome  anything  in  the 
way  of  honest  excitement,  if  only  to  break  the 
monotony  of  home  life.  And  here  was  excite 
ment  for  her,  indeed,  and,  properly  regarded,  of 
the  most  irreproachably  honest  description. 

It  flattered,  too,  her  love  of  adventure,  for  which 
she  had  never  had  much  outlet  in  Medworth 
Square.  Where  we  Blackers  get  our  love  of  ad 
venture  from,  by-the-way,  I  don't  quite  know, 
unless  it  be  from  my  mother's  father,  who  fought 
at  Waterloo,  and  died  a  very  old  gentleman,  a 
Knight  of  Windsor  ;  but  we  certainly  both  of  us 
have  it  very  strongly,  as  all  good  English  people 
should. 

To  cut  a  long  story  short,  for  I  must  really  be 
getting  on,  my  sister  finally  agreed  to  corne,  if 
only  as  chaperon  to  Miss  Rybot.  Like  the  rest 
of  us,  she  had  never  been  to  Monte  Carlo,  having 


76 


been  hitherto  forbidden  by  her  husband ;  but  now 
she  said  she  would  insist,  and  allege  as  a  reason 
the  necessity  of  her  presence  for  keeping  her  only 
brother  from  ruining  himself  at  the  tables. 

So  I  was  delighted  to  hear  of  her  plucky  re 
solve,  particularly  as  it  at  once  got  rid  of  the  dif 
ficulty  of  Miss  Rybot's  chaperon — since  Brentin 
had  made  up  his  mind  not  to  take  his  wife,  but 
send  her  down  to  Rochester  while  he  was  away, 
and  keep  her  fully  employed  there,  in  Charles 
Dickens's  country. 

I  kissed  my  sister,  promising  to  come  back  to 
dinner,  and  meantime  went  up  in  the  nursery, 
Avhere  I  found  my  niece  Mollie  seated  by  the  fire, 
wrapped  in  a  grimy  little  shawl,  reading  Grimm's 
Fairy  Tales. 


CHAPTER  X 
MR.  BRENTIN'S  INDISCRETION  —  LUCY  AND  i  MAKE  IT  UP  — 

BAILEY  THOMPSON   APPEARS   IN   CHURCH  —  ON    CHRIST 
MAS   DAY   WE   HOLD   A   COUNCIL   OP   WAR 


it  was  the  very  day  we  went  down  to 
"The  French  Horn"  together  that  Mr.  Bren- 
tin  confessed  to  me  how,  in  spite  of  our  agree 
ment  as  to  keeping  the  affair  a  profound  secret, 
he  had  actually  been  so  rash  as  to  confide  our 
whole  plan  to  a  stranger  —  a  stranger  casually  en 
countered,  above  all  places,  in  the  smoking-room 
of  the  "Victoria"! 

How  incomprehensible,  how  weak  and  waver 
ing  is  man  !  Here  was  Julius  C.  Brentin,  as 
shrewd  an  American  as  can  be  met  with  in  Low's 
Exchange,  deliberately  pouring  into  a  strange 
ear  a  secret  he  had  hitherto  rigidly  guarded  even 
from  his  young  and  attractive  wife. 

Of  course  he  had  his  excuses  and  defence  ; 
what  man  has  not,  Avhen  he  does  wrong  ?  But 
whatever  the  excuse,  there  still  remained  the  un 
pleasant  fact  that  there  was  positively  a  man 
walking  about  (and  from  his  description  one 
evidently  not  quite  a  gentleman)  who  knew  all 
about  our  arrangements  and  could  at  any  moment 
communicate  them  to  the  authorities  at  Monte 
Carlo. 


When  I  asked  him,  somewhat  sharply,  how  ever 
he  had  come  to  commit  so  gross  a  blunder,  he 
had  really  no  explanation  to  give.  He  seemed 
to  think  he  had  sufficiently  safeguarded  himself 
by  exchanging  cards  with  the  man,  than  which  I 
could  not  conceive  anything  more  childish — 

MR.  BAILEY  THOMPSON 

without  an  address  or  a  club  on  it  !  What  pos 
sible  guarantee  was  there  in  that?  Brentin  him 
self  couldn't  quite  say ;  only  he  seemed  to  fancy 
the  possession  of  his  card  gave  him  some  sort  of 
hold  on  the  owner,  and  that  so  long  as  he  had  it 
in  his  keeping  we  were  safe  against  treachery. 

How  totally  wrong  he  was,  and  how  nearly  his 
absurd  confidence  came  to  absolutely  ruining  us 
all,  will  clearly  appear  as  this  work  goes  on  and 
readers  are  taken  to  Monte  Carlo. 

At  last,  as  I  continued  to  reproach  him,  he 
took  refuge  in  saying,  "  Well,  it's  done,  and 
there's  an  end  to  it ;  give  over  talking  through 
your  hat !"  A  vulgar  Americanism  which  much 
offended  me,  and  caused  us  to  drive  up  to  "The 
French  Horn"  in  somewhat  sulky  silence. 

It  was  the  23d  of  December,  and  we  found  Mr. 
Thatcher  ready  for  us.  I  at  once  left  him  to 
show  Brentin  over  the  house,  the  great  hall  dec 
orated  with  holly  and  cotton-wool  mottoes,  and 
to  his  room,  while  I  went  in  immediate  search 
of  Lucy. 

Over  that  tender  meeting  I  draw  the  sacred 
veil  of  reticence.  The  dear  girl  was  soon  in  my 


79 


arms,  soft  and  palpitating,  full  of  forgiveness 
and  love.  We  spent  the  afternoon  together  in 
a  long  walk  across  the  links  and  down  to  the 
coast-guards'  cottages,  where  we  had  tea ;  re 
turning  only  in  time  for  dinner,  through  the 
dark  and  starry  evening  of  that  singularly  mild 
December. 

The  result  of  our  walk  was  that  we  made  up 
our  minds  to  be  married  shortly  before  Easter — so 
soon,  in  fact,  as  I  could  get  back  from  abroad  and 
settle  my  affairs.  About  Monte  Carlo,  I  told 
her  nothing  further  than  that  my  sister  was  not 
well,  and  I  had  undertaken  to  escort  her  there, 
and  see  after  her  for  a  time — a  fib,  which,  know 
ing  Lucy's  apprehensive  nature,  I  judged  to  be 
necessary,  and  for  which  I  trust  one  day  to  be 
forgiven. 

Mr.  Brentin  and  I  dined  together,  partly  in 
silence,  partly  snapping  at  each  other.  On 
Christmas  Eve  our  party  was  complete,  with  the 
exception  of  Harold  Forsyth,  who  came  over  next 
morning  from  Colchester.  On  Christmas  Day, 
"  What's  the  matter  with  our  all  going  to 
Church  ?"  said  Mr.  Brentin. 

"  Nothing  particularly  the  matter,"  Bob  Hines 
replied,  rather  gruffly,  "except  that  some  of  us 
are  probably  unaccustomed  to  it." 

However,  Brentin  insisted,  and  to  Church, 
accordingly,  we  all  went,  as  meek  as  bleating 
lambs. 

Now  in  the  Wharton  Park  pew  was  sitting 
Mr.  Crage.  The  pew  is  so  sheltered  with  its 
high  partition  and  curtain-rods,  I  didn't  see  him 


80 


till  he  stood  up  ;  nor  did  I  know  there  was  any 
one  else  there  till  the  parson  glared  down 
straight  into  the  pew  from  the  clerk's  ancient 
seat  under  the  pulpit,  whence  he  read  the  les 
sons,  and  said  he  really  must  beg  chance  mem 
bers  of  the  congregation  to  observe  the  proper 
reverential  attitude,  and  not  be  continually 
seated. 

Whereupon  a  deep  voice  replied,  amid  consid 
erable  sensation,  from  the  bowels  of  the  pew, 
"  Sir,  you  are  in  error.  I  always  rise  as  the  rubric 
directs,  but  having  no  advantage  of  height — 
the  rest  of  the  speech  being  lost  in  the  irrever 
ent  titters  of  our  party. 

Brentin,  who  was  next  the  pew,  looked  over 
the  partition  and  added  to  the  sensation  by 
audibly  observing,  "  Sakes  alive  !  It's  friend 
Bailey  Thompson." 

When  the  service  was  over  and  we  all  got  out 
side,  he  whispered,  "Wait  a  minute,  Blacker; 
send  the  others  on,  and  I'll  present  you  to  my 
friend."  So  the  others  went  on  back  to  "The 
French  Horn,"  while  I  remained  behind  with 
some  apprehension  and  curiosity  to  take  this 
Mr.  Bailey  Thompson's  measure.  He  came  out 
alone,  Mr.  Crage  remaining  to  have  a  few  words 
with  the  parson  (with  whom  he  was  continually 
squabbling),  and  Brentin  and  Bailey  Thompson 
greeted  each  other  with  great  warmth. 

Pie  turned  out  to  be  a  short,  dark,  determined- 
looking  little  man,  with  a  square  chin  and  old- 
fashioned,  black,  mutton-chop  whiskers.  No, 
he  was  clearly  not  quite  a  gentleman,  in  the 


81 


sense  that  he  had  evidently  never  been  at  a 
public  school. 

"  This,"  said  Mr.  Brentiii  as  he  presented  me, 
"  is  the  originator  of  the  little  scheme  I  was  tell 
ing  you  of — Mr.  Vincent  Blacker." 

"  Oh,  indeed  !"  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson  replied, 
looking  me  full  in  the  face  with  his  pene 
trating  black  eyes,  and  politely  lifting  his  small, 
tall  hat.  "  Oh,  indeed  !  so  you  really  meant 
it?" 

"Meant  it  ?"  echoed  Brentin.  "Why,  the  band 
of  brothers  is  here  ;  they  were  in  the  pew  next 
you.  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  we  are  all  here  to 
gether  for  the  making  of  our  final  arrangements, 
and  in  two  weeks  we  start." 

"Oh, indeed!"  he  smiled;  "it's  a  bold  piece  of 
work." 

"  Sir,  it  is  colossal,  but  it  will  succeed  !" 

"  Let  us  hope  so.  I  am  sure  I  wish  you  every 
success." 

"  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,"  said  Brentin,  evi 
dently  nettled  at  the  way  the  little  man  contin 
ued  incredulously  to  smile,  "  if  you  care  to  join 
us  some  time  during  the  afternoon  we  shall  be 
glad  to  lay  details  of  our  plan  before  you.  They 
will  not  only  prove  our  bona-fides,  but  show  how 
complete  and  fully  thought  out  all  our  prepara 
tions  are." 

"  If  I  can  leave  my  friend  Crage  towards  four 
o'clock,  I  will,"  Mr.  Thompson  replied.  "I  know 
Monte  Carlo  as  well  as  most  men,  and  may  be 
able  to  give  you  some  useful  hints." 

"  We  shall  be  glad  to  see  you,  for  none  of  us 


82 


have  ever  been  there.  But  not  a  word  to  yonr 
friend  I" 

"  Not  a  word  to  a  soul !"  smiled  the  imperturb 
able  little  man;  and  he  left  us  to  join  the  aban 
doned  Crage,  who  was  still  inside  the  sacred  edi 
fice  snarling  at  the  parson. 

It  was  quite  useless  saying  anything  further  to 
Brentin.  I  merely  contented  myself  with  point 
ing  out  that  if  anything  could  make  me  suspect 
Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  it  was  his  being  the  guest 
of  Mr.  Crage. 

"  Pawsibly  !"  drawled  Mr.  Brentin.  "  I  don't 
pretend  the  man  is  pure-bred,  nor  exactly  fit  at 
this  moment  to  take  his  seat  at  Queen  Victoria's 
table  ;  but  that  he's  stanch,  with  that  square 
chin,  I  will  stake  my  bottom  dollar.  And  seeing 
how  well  he  knows  the  locality,  we  shall  learn 
something  from  him,  sir,  which,  you  may  depend 
upon,  will  be  highly  useful." 

The  attitude  of  the  band  of  brothers  so  far  had 
been  rather  of  the  negative  order.  Whether  their 
enthusiasm  was  cooling,  as  they  had  been  em 
ploying  their  spare  time  in  pitifully  surveying 
the  difficulties  and  danger  of  the  scheme,  instead 
of  the  glory  and  the  profit,  I  know  not ;  but, 
obviously,  neither  on  Christmas  Eve  nor  Christ 
mas  morning  were  they  any  longer  in  the  hope 
ful  condition  in  which  they  were  when  I  first 
approached  and  secured  them. 

That  they  had  been  talking  the  matter  over 
among  themselves  was  clear,  for  no  sooner  was 
the  Cbristmas  fare  disposed  of  in  the  great  hall 
than  they  began  to  open  fire.  Their  first  shot 


83 


was  discharged  when  Mr.  Thatcher  brought  us 
in  a  bowl  of  punch,  about  three  o'clock,  and 
Brentin  proceeded  to  charge  their  glasses,  and 
desire  them  to  drink  to  the  affair  and  our  suc 
cessful  return  therefrom. 

They  drank  the  toast  so  half-heartedly,  much 
as  Jacobites  when  called  on  to  pledge  King 
George,  that  Brentin  lost  his  temper. 

"  Gentlemen  \"  he  cried,  thumping  the  table, 
"if  you  cannot  drink  to  our  success  with  more 
momentum  than  that,  you  will  never  do  for  ad 
venturers  ;  you  may  as  well  stay  right  here  and 
till  the  soil.  And  that's  all  there  is  to  it !" 

"What's  the  matter  with  eating  fat  bacon 
under  a  hedge  ?"  growled  Bob  Hines.  lie  had 
been  much  nettled  at  the  way  Brentin  had  taken 
us  all  in  charge,  and  more  particularly  at  his 
being  ordered  off  to  church.  Hence  his  not 
altogether  apposite  interruption. 

Brentin  fixed  him  with  his  glittering,  beady 
eyes.  "Mr.  Ilines,"  he  said,  "if  you  are  the 
spokesman  of  the  malecontents,  I  am  perfectly 
ready  to  hear  what  you  have  to  object." 

"You  are  very  good,"  Hines  replied,  stiffly, 
"  but  I  imagined  the  scheme  was  Blacker's,  and 
not  yours  at  all." 

"  The  scheme  is  the  scheme,"  said  Brentin, 
impatiently.  "Neither  one  man's  nor  another's. 
Either  you  go  in  with  us  or  you  do  not ;  now, 
then,  take  your  choice,  right  here  and  now. 
You  know  all  about  it,  what  we  are  going  to  do 
and  how  we  are  going  to  do  it.  There  are  no 
flies  on  the  scheme,  any  more  than  there  are  on 


84 


us.  We  don't  care  ay  ginger-snap  whether  yon 
withdraw  or  not  ;  but  at  least  we  have  the  right 
to  know  which  course  you  intend  to  pursoo." 

'•'  The  difficulty  appears  to  me,"  Forsyth  struck 
in,  in  conciliatory  tones,  "  that  none  of  us  have 
ever  been  to  the  place,  so  that  we  can't  really 
tell  whether  the  thing  is  possible  or  not." 

"  Exactly  !"  murmured  Teddy  Parsons. 

Brentin  gave  a  gesture  of  vexation.  "Monte 
Carlo  has,  of  course,  been  thoroughly  surveyed 
before  this  determination  of  ours  has  been  arrived 
at — from  a  distance,  ay  considerable  distance,  I 
admit.  Still,  it  has  been  surveyed,  though,  natur 
ally,  through  other  parties'  eyes.  Every  author 
ity  we  have  consulted  agrees  that  the  thing  is 
perfectly  feasible  ;  every  one,  without  exception, 
wonders  why  it  has  never  been  done  before ; 
every  one  admits  it  is  a  plague-spot  which  should 
be  cauterized.  Shall  we  do  it  ?  Yes  or  no  ? 
There  is  the  whole  thing  in  ay  nutshell." 

Teddy  Parsons  observed,  "  There  is  one  thing 
I  should  like  to  know,  and  that  is — er — will  there 
be  any  bloodshed  ?" 

"  Not  unless  they  shed  it,"  was  Brentin's  some 
what  grim  reply. 

Teddy  shuddered  and  went  on,  "  But  I  under 
stand  we  are  actually  to  be  armed  with  revol 
vers." 

"  That  is  so,"  said  Brentin,  "  but  they  will  not 
be  loaded,  or  with  blank  cartridge  at  the  most. 
Experience  tells  us  that  gentlemen  are  just  as 
badly  frightened  by  an  unloaded  as  by  a  loaded 
gun." 


85 


Then  Arthur  Masters  struck  in,  "  I  suppose 
there  will  be  likely  to  be  a  good  deal  of  hustling 
and  possibly  violence  before  we  can  count  on 
getting  clear  away  ?" 

"I  don't  apprehend/'  said  Brentin,  "there 
will  be  much  of  either ;  though,  of  course,  we 
can't  expect  the  affair  will  pass  off  quite  so 
quietly  as  an  ordinary  social  lunch-party.  We 
may,  for  instance,  have  to  knock  a  few  people 
down.  Surely  English  gentlemen  are  not  afraid 
of  having  to  do  that  ?" 

"It  is  not  a  question  of  fear,"  Masters  haugh 
tily  replied.  "I'm  not  thinking  of  that." 

"Hear  !     Hear  !"  cried  that  snipe  Parsons. 

"  I  am  thinking  of  the  ladies  of  our  party." 

"  There's  a  very  pretty  girl  here,"  Parsons 
ventured.  "I  wish  she  could  be  persuaded — " 

Forsyth  nudged  him,  while  I  cried  "Order!" 
savagely. 

"  There  will  be  ladies  in  our  party,"  Masters 
went  on.  "It  would  be  a  terrible  thing  if  they 
were  to  be  frightened  or  in  any  way 'injured." 

"I  yield  to  no  man,"  declaimed  Brentin,  "in 
my  chivalrous  respect  for  the  sex.  But  there 
are  certain  places  and  times  when  the  presence 
of  ladies  is  highly  undesirable.  The  Casino 
rooms  at  Monte  Carlo,  when  we  are  about  to 
raid  them,  is  one.  That's  the  reason  which  has 
determined  me  to  leave  Mrs.  Brentin  behind,  in 
complete  ignorance  of  what  we  are  about  to  do. 
I  do  not  presoom  to  dictate  to  other  gentlemen 
what  their  course  of  action  should  be,  but  I  must 
say  our  chances  of  success  will  be  enormously 


86 


magnified  if  no  ladies  are  permitted  to  be  of  the 
party." 

"Hear  !  Hear  !"  murmured  Hines,  who  from 
a  certain  gruffness  of  manner  is  no  particular 
favorite  with  the  sex. 

"Perhaps  it  would  be  enough,"  urged  Masters, 
"  if,  on  the  actual  day  of  our  attempt,  the  ladies 
of  our  party  undertook  not  to  go  into  the  rooms?" 

"Perhaps  it  would,"  Brentin  replied,  "but 
for  myself  I  should  prefer  they  remained  alto 
gether  in  England,  offering  up  a  series  of  succinct 
and  heartfelt  prayers  for  our  safe  return." 

Bob  Hines  gave  a  snort  of  laughter,  whereupon 
Brentin  fixed  him  inquiringly. 

"Englishwomen  have  prayed  for  the  safe  re 
turn  of  heroes  before  now,  Mr.  Hines." 

"I  am  aware  of  it." 

"Then  why  gurgle  at  the  back  of  your  throat?" 

"  I  have  a  certain  irrepressible  sense  of  humor." 

"  That  is  remarkable  for  an  Englishman  !" 

Whether  Mr.  Brentin  were  deliberately  bent 
on  rubbing  us  all  up  the  wrong  way,  I  don't 
know,  but  he  was  most  certainly  doing  it,  so  I 
thought  it  judicious  to  interpose.  It  was  just  at 
that  moment  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson  stepped  into 
the  room. 


CHAPTER  XI 

MR.  BAILEY  THOMPSON  GIVES  US  HIS  INGENIOUS  ADVICE — 
WE  ARE  FOOLS  ENOUGH  TO  TRUST  HIM  —  MISPLACED 
CONFIDENCE 

"  THE  very  man  \"  cried  Brentin.  "  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson,  let  me  present  you  to  my  friends. 
You  are  just  in  time  to  give  them  assurance  of 
the  feasibility  of  the  great  scheme  you  and  I  have 
already  had  some  discussion  over." 

Now  Bailey  Thompson's  name  had  been  curso 
rily  mentioned  during  dinner  as  that  of  a  gentle 
man  who  might  look  in  in  the  course  of  the  af 
ternoon,  and,  if  he  came,  would  be  able  to  give 
us  some  useful  hints  ;  but,  beyond  that,  Brentin 
had  kept  him  back  as  a  final  card,  having  already 
some  notion  of  the  wavering  going  on,  and  desir 
ing  to  use  him  to  clinch  the  business  one  way  or 
the  other. 

Mr.  Thompson  bowed  and  smiled,  and  Brentin 
went  on. 

"  There  is  some  dissatisfaction  in  the  camp, 
sir  ;  there  is  some  doubt  and  there  is  fear.  Ad 
vice  is  badly  needed.  I  look  to  you  to  give  it 
us/" 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  be  of  any  use." 

"  Then  let  me  present  you,  Mr.  Thompson. 


This  powerful  young  man  with  the  leonine  head 
and  cherry-wood  pipe  is  Mr.  Hines ;  next  him, 
with  the  slight  frame,  tawny  mustache,  and 
Richmond  Gem  cigarette,  is  Mr.  Parsons  ;  oppo 
site,  with  the  clean,  clear,  and  agreeable  counte 
nance  and  the  cigar,  is  Mr.  Forsyth  ;  next  him, 
with  the  sloping  brow  and  thoughtful  back  to  his 
head,  is  Mr.  Masters,  who  doesn't  smoke.  Vin 
cent  Blacker  you  know.  Gentlemen,  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson.  There  is  your  glass,  sir;  drink,  and 
when  you  feel  sufficiently  stimulated  and  com 
municative,  speak  !" 

Mr.  Thompson  darted  his  penetrating  eyes  over 
the  company,  smiled  again,  and  took  his  glass  of 
tepid  punch. 

"So  you  really  mean  it,"  he  said,  sitting  be 
tween  us. 

Mr.  Brentin  groaned.  "Don't  let  us  hear  that 
from  you  again,  sir/'  he  said;  "it  is  likely  to 
breed  bad  blood.  Take  it  from  me,  we  really 
mean  it,  and  only  need  advice  how  it  should  best 
be  done.  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  we  are  all  at 
tention." 

"In  the  first  place,  then,"  the  little  man  re 
marked,  amid  dead  silence,  as  he  sipped  his 
punch,  "  let  me  say  you  have,  in  my  judgment, 
enormously  underestimated  the  amount  of  mon 
ey  in  the  rooms." 

"Ah!" 

"  I  know  the  place  well,  and  speak  with  some 
authority." 

"Just  what  we  want." 

"  Now,  there  are  nine  roulette  and  four  trente- 


et-quarante  tables.  Each,  I  am  told,  is  furnished 
with  £4000  to  begin  play  on  for  the  day ;  total, 
£52,000." 

"Mark  this,  gentlemen!"  cried  the  agitated 
Brentin. 

"  But  each  table  wins  per  diem,  roughly  speak 
ing,  'about  £400 ;  so  that,  if  you  select,  say,  ten 
o'clock  in  the  evening  for  your  attempt,  you  may 
count  on  £5200  more — total,  say,  £58,000." 

"  Make  a  note,  gentlemen,"  said  Brentin, 
"that  we  select  ten-thirty,  to  make  sure." 

"That  does  not  take  into  account  the  money 
lying  there  already  staked  by  the  players,  which 
you  may  calculate  as  fully  £3000  more." 

"  Oh,  go  slow,  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  sir,  go 
slow  !" 

"But  where  your  underestimation  is  most 
marked,"  said  the  impressive  little  man,  sweep 
ing  his  eyes  round  the  attentive  circle,  "is  in 
calculating  the  reserve  in  the  vaults.  In  short, 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  taking  every 
thing  into  consideration,  there  must  be  at  least 
half  a  million  of  money  lying  in  the  Casino 
premises,  at — the — very — least !" 

In  the  dead  silence,  broken  only  by  the  taking 
in  of  breath,  I  could  hear  Lucy  playing  the 
piano  down-stairs  in  the  little  room  behind  the 
bar. 

Mr.  Thompson  sipped  his  punch  again  and 
looked  at  us  calmly  over  the  rim  of  his  tumbler. 

"And  you  think  the  money  in  the  vaults  is 
as  easily  got  at  as  the  rest  ?"  Bob  Hines  asked, 
in  a  constrained  voice. 


90. 


"That  I  shouldn't  like  to  say,"  Thompson 
cautiously  replied.  "I  can  tell  you,  however, 
that  I  have  myself  twice  seen  the  bank  broken  ; 
which  only  means,  by-the-way,  that  the  £4000  at 
that  particular  table  had  been  won." 

"  And  what  happened  ?" 

"Play  at  that  table  was  merely  suspended 
while  a  further  supply  was  being  fetched  from 
the  vaults." 

"And  where  are  the  vaults  ?" 

"  Below  the  building  somewhere,  but  precisely 
where  I  cannot  tell  you  ;  but  I  have  no  doubt, 
once  the  rooms  are  in  your  possession,  and,  given 
the  time,  you  would  have  no  difficulty  whatever 
in  breaking  into  them." 

Impressive  silence  again,  broken  at  last  by 
Brentin.  "And  now,  sir,  will  you  be  good 
enough  to  give  us  some  idea  of  the  amount  of 
opposition  we  are  likely  to  meet  with  ?" 

Bailey  Thompson  looked  meditative,  and,  after 
a  pause,  proceeded.  "Outside  the  building,  at 
every  twenty  paces  or  so,  you  will  find  men  sta 
tioned.  They  are  merely  firemen,  whose  chief 
duty  it  is  to  see  no  bomb  is  thrown  into  the 
rooms  or  deposited  outside  by  the  anarchists, 
who  have  frequently  threatened  it.  They  are 
not  soldiers,  and  are  not  in  any  way  armed." 

Teddy  Parsons  breathed  heavily  and  mur 
mured,  "  Capital !" 

"And  what  force  is  there  inside  ?" 

"There  are  a  great  number  of  men  about,  at 
tendants  and  so  forth,  but  I  cannot  conceive 
them  capable  of  any  resistance." 


91 


"  You  don't  imagine  they  are  secretly  armed  ?" 
asked  the  palpitating  Teddy. 

"  Dear  me,  no,  any  more  than  the  attendants 
at  an  ordinary  club  !" 

"In  short,"  said  Mr.  Brentin,  "  you  feel 
pretty  confident  that  neither  inside  nor  outside 
we  are  likely  to  encounter  a  single  weapon  of 
offence  ?" 

"  Perfectly  confident.  Perfectly  confident, 
gentlemen." 

"And  what  about  the  army  ?"  Parsons  asked. 
"  I  understand  the  Prince  of  Monaco  has  an  army 
of  seventy  men." 

"Quite  correct,"  Bailey  Thompson  replied, 
"but  it  is  stationed  up  in  Monaco,  at  least  a 
mile  away." 

"Then  it  would  be  some  time  before  they 
could  be  mustered." 

"  Besides,"  Mr.  Brentin  dryly  observed,  "they 
are  not  likely  to  be  of  much  use  unless  they 
can  swim.  We  propose  to  escape  on  board  the 
Amaranth." 

"  That's  your  best  chance,  gentlemen,"  said  Mr. 
Thompson — "in  fact,  your  only  practicable  one." 

"And  you  think  six  of  us  are  enough  for  the 
business  ?"  asked  Masters. 

"  You  will  be  the  best  judges  of  that,  perhaps, 
when  you  see  the  place.  My  own  feeling  is  that, 
to  make  it  all  perfectly  safe,  you  should  be  at 
least  a  dozen." 

"If  necessary,"  said  Mr.  Brentin,  "we  can 
always  impress  half  a  dozen  of  our  crew.  Noth 
ing  like  a  jolly  Jack-tar  for  a  job  of  this  kind." 


92 


"If  you  do,"  smiled  Bailey  Thompson, 
will  have  to  fig  them  out  in  what  they  call  tenue 
de  ville  convenaUe.  They  won't  let  them  into 
the  rooms  in  their  common  sailor  dress.  Why, 
gentlemen,  they  refused  me  admission  once  be 
cause  my  boots  were  dusty.  Clean  hands  don't 
so  much  matter,"  he  added,  in  his  sly  fashion. 

Then  he  rose  and  remarked,  "  I  must  now  be 
returning  to  Wharton  ;  my  poor  old  friend  Crage 
is  in  low  spirits,  and  I  have  undertaken  not  to 
be  more  than  half  an  hour  away  from  him.  If 
there  is  any  further  information  wanted,  how 
ever — " 

"Just  this/'  said  Hines  ;  "taking  it  at  its 
worst,  and  supposing  we  are  all,  or  any  of  us,  capt 
ured,  what  do  you  imagine  will  be  our  fate  ?" 

Mr.  Thompson  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "  You 
will  be  treated  with  every  courtesy  ;  you  will  un 
doubtedly  be  tried,  but — if  only  from  the  fact  of 
your  failing — you  will,  I  should  think,  be  let  off 
easily.  If  you  succeed,  and  all  of  you  get  clear 
away,  I  do  not  imagine  there  will  be  any  serious 
pursuit,  for  policy  will  close  the  authorities' 
mouth  ;  they  will  not  care  to  advertise  to  the 
world  how  easily  the  place  can  be  looted.  In 
fact,  from  what  I  know  of  them,  they  will  most 
likely  take  particular  pains  to  deny  it  has  ever 
been  done  at  all.  You  see,  gentlemen,  the  en 
tire  Continental  press  is  in  their  pay/' 

"  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  criminal  court  and  a 
prison  at  Monaco  ?" 

"  Oh  yes ;  and  if,  unfortunately,  you  are  caught, 
you  will  all  be  sentenced  for  life,  I  imagine." 


"I  don't  call  that  being  let  off  easy/'  grunted 
Teddy. 

"Perhaps  not  in  theory,  but  in  practice,  yes; 
for  in  a  year  or  so  you  will  find  yourselves  free  to 
stroll  about  the  town,  and  even  down  to  Monte 
Carlo." 

"  In  fact,  bolt  ?"  said  Masters. 

"  Exactly  ;  more  especially  if  your  relatives  pay 
due  attention  to  the  jailers  and  see  they  want 
for  nothing.  In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  I  drink 
to  your  enterprise,  and  wish  you  all  well  through 
it.  Au  revoir !"  And  with  a  courteous  bow  and 
wave  of  his  gloved  hand  (he  wore  dogskin  gloves 
the  whole  time),  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  accom 
panied  by  the  jubilant  Brentin,  withdrew. 

"Well,"  I  said,  "what  do  you  say  now  ?" 

There  was  a  brief  silence,  and  then  Teddy  Par 
sons  observed, "  It  seerns  to  me  we  may  as  well  go." 

"Half  a  million  of  money!"  murmured  For- 
syth,  meditatively,  "and  most  of  it  for  hospitals." 

"  I  think,  out  of  that,  you  might  manage  to 
stand  me  a  swimming-bath  as  well  as  a  gymna 
sium,  eh  ?"  whispered  Bob  Hines. 

Mr.  Brentin  returned  to  us  radiant.  "Well, 
gentlemen,  what  do  you  think  of  it  all  now  ?" 

"  They  are  coming,"  I  ventured  to  say,  and  the 
band  of  brothers  nodded. 

"But,  I  say  !"  spluttered  Masters,  who  had  for 
the  most  part  kept  silent — "  who  is  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson  ?  Who  knows  anything  about  him  ? 
Who  can  guarantee  he  won't  give  us  away  to  the 
Monte  Carlo  people,  and  have  us  all  quodded  be 
fore  we  can  even  get  a  look  in  ?" 


94 


Mr.  Brentin  frowned.  "  I  will  answer  for  Mr. 
Thompson  with  my  life  I"  he  cried.  "He  is  a 
gentleman  of  the  most  royal  integrity.  I  have 
studied  him  in  every  social  relation,  and  I  never 
knew  him  fail." 

"  Oh,  well,  that  '11  do,"  interrupted  Bob  Hines, 
who  had  all  along  shown  some  impatience  at 
Brentin's  long  speeches.  "  We  only  want  to 
know  somebody  is  responsible  for  his  not  selling 
us,  that's  all."' 

A  responsibility  Mr.  Brentin  undertook  with 
the  greatest  cheerfulness  and  readiness,  and  that, 
mind  you,  for  a  man  who  turned  out  to  be  Scot 
land  Yard  personified — who,  but  for  his  inane 
jealousy  of  the  French  police  and  his  desire 
to  effect  our  capture  single-handed,  would  have 
been  the  means  of  casting  five  highly  strung  Eng 
lish  gentlemen,  and  one  excitable  American,  into 
lifelong  chains  ;  and  who,  on  the  very  morning 
after  his  interview  with  us  ( as  he  afterwards 
confessed  to  me),  was  actually  at  Whitehall  con 
certing  plans  with  the  authorities  there  how  best 
to  catch  us  inflagrante  delicto! 

How,  on  the  contrary,  AVC  caught  him,  and  had 
him  deported  to  the  southernmost  point  of  Greece, 
forms  one  of  my  choicest  memories,  and  will  now 
soon  be  related  at  sufficient  length. 


CHAPTER  XII 

MOXTE  CARLO— Mil.  VAN  GIXKEL'S  YACHT  SARATOGA — WE 
PROSPECT — FORTUNATE  DISCOVERY  OP  THE  POINT  OF 
ATTACK— FIRST  VISIT  TO  THE  ROOMS 

IT  was  a  brilliant  January  day,  mild  and  sunny, 
when  Mr.  Brentin,  Parsons,  and  I  were  standing 
in  the  old  bastion  on  the  point  of  Monaco,  strain 
ing  our  gaze  for  a  glimpse  of  the  Amaranth,  In 
front  stretched  the  nickering,  shifting  pavement 
of  the  Mediterranean,  of  a  deep,  smooth  sap 
phire,  ruffled  here  and  there,  as  the  nap  of  a  hat 
brushed  the  wrong  way.  Nothing  to  be  seen  on 
it  but  the  one  loose  white  sail  of  a  yacht  drift 
ing  out  of  harbor  past  the  point. 

We  had  strolled  up  the  long  ramp  from  the 
Condamine  and  through  the  gateway  leading  to 
the  old  bastions,  chiefly  to  see  whether  they  were 
provided  with  guns ;  we  were  relieved  to  find 
they  were  not — mere  peaceable  flower-walks,  in 
fact,  and  already  blossoming  with  geranium. 

From  the  unfinished  cathedral  behind  us  in  the 
old  town,  crushed  and  huddled  together  like  a 
Yorkshire  fishing  village,  came  the  rolling  throb 
of  the  heavy  mid-day  bell ;  up  from  the  harbor 
far  below,  the  smart  bugle-call  of  a  French  cor 
vette.  Little  figures  in  white  ran  about  the  deck, 


96 


and  the  tricolor  fluttered  from  the  peak.  Close 
alongside  her  lay  an  American  yacht,  the  Sara 
toga,  belonging  to  Mr.  Van  Ginkel,  a  former 
friend  of  Mr.  Brentiu's.  Both  the  vessels  caused 
us  a  considerable  amount  of  uneasiness  ;  the  cor 
vette  carried  guns,  the  Saratoga  was  noted  for 
her  speed.  It  was  quite  uncertain  how  long  they 
might  continue  to  grace  the  harbor.  One  could 
easily  blow  us  out  of  the  water  ;  the  other  could 
just  as  easily  give  us  an  hour's  start,  take  fifty 
men  on  board,  pursue,  overhaul,  and  bring  us 
back,  flushed  though  in  other  respects  we  might 
be  with  victory. 

We  had  already  been  three  days  in  Monte 
Carlo,  and  so  far  there  had  been  no  sign  of  their 
departure.  "If  the  worst  comes,"  said  Mr. 
Brentin,  "we  must  take  Van  Ginkel  into  our 
confidence  and  indooce  him  to  take  a  trip  over 
to  San  Eemo  on  the  night  of  our  attempt.  The 
mischief  is,  I  am  so  little  of  his  acquaintance 
now  I  hesitate  to  ask  so  great  a  favor." 

"  What  sort  of  man  is  he  ?"  I  asked. 

"Well,  sir,  we  were  classmates  at  Harvard  in 
'60.  Since  then,  though  full  of  good-will,  we 
have  scarcely  met.  I  understand,  however,  he 
has  some  stomach  trouble,  and  is  ay  considerable 
invalid." 

"  Married  ?" 

"Di-vorced.  Mrs.  Van  Ginkel  is  now  the 
Princess  Danleno,  of  Rome,  a  widow  of  large 
wealth.  She  owns  the  Villa  Camellia  at  Cannes, 
and  is  over  here  constantly,  in  the  season,  they 
tell  me.  She  plays  heavily  on  a  highly  ingenious 


and  complicated  system  of  her  own,  which  costs 
her  about  as  much  as  the  Saratoga  costs  her  for 
mer  husband." 

We  had  taken  up  our  abode  at  the  "Hotel  Mono- 
pole  " — a  hotel  recommended  to  us  by  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson,  by-the-way,  for  purposes  of  his  own. 
It  is  a  quiet  little  house,  up  the  hill,  and  not  far 
from  the  "Victoria" ;  there  we  had  safely  arrived 
three  days  before — Parsons,  Brentin,  Bob  Hines, 
and  I.  Forsyth,  Masters,  my  sister  Mrs.  Rivers, 
and  Miss  Rybot  had  embarked  in  the  Amaranth 
from  Portsmouth  a  few  days  before  we  left 
London,  and  were  now  about  due  at  Monte  Carlo. 
My  brother-in-law,  the  publisher,  had  made  no 
difficulty  to  my  sister's  joining  the  expedition, 
as  to  the  true  object  of  which  he  of  course  knew 
nothing;  in  fact,  he  was  delighted  she  could  get 
a  holiday  on  the  Riviera  so  cheaply.  It  was  un 
derstood  she  was  not  to  play,  and  not  to  spend 
more  than  £10  en  route.  I  heard  afterwards 
that  Paternoster  Row  simply  ran  with  his  brag. 
"I'm  a  bachelor  just  at  present.  My  wife's 
yachting  in  the  Mediterranean  with  some  rich 
Americans.  Very  hospitable  people  ;  they  want 
ed  me  to  come,  but  really,  just  now — "  etc.,  etc. 

We  had  spent  our  first  three  days,  not  un- 
profitably,  in  prospecting  the  place.  We  reached 
Monte  Carlo  in  the  afternoon,  and  at  once  drove 
up  to  the  hotel.  Almost  the  first  thing  we  saw 
was  a  large  board  over  a  little  house  on  the  hill 
side,  close  by  the  Credit  Lyonnais,  with  "  Avances 
sur  bijoux  "  on  it. 

Brentin   chuckled.      "Well,  gentlemen,"  he 


said,  "we  sha'n't  play  the  game  quite  so  low 
down  as  that,  eh  ?  It  will  be  either  neck  or 
nothing  with  us." 

It  was  five  o'clock  before  we  started  to  go  down 
to  the  Casino.  We  set  out  in  solemn  silence, 
down  the  steep  and  glaring  Avhite  road,  past  the 
"  Victoria  "  and  the  chemist's.  At  the  head  of 
the  gaudy,  painted  gardens,  that  look  like  the  su 
preme  effort  of  a  modiste,  we  came  in  full  view 
of  the  rooms.  There  we  paused,  choked,  the 
most  sensitive  of  us,  by  our  emotions. 

In  front  there  was  a  long  strip  of  gay  flower 
beds  and  white  pebble  paths,  flanked  by  rows  of 
California  palms.  To  my  excited  fancy  they  were 
the  planted  feather  brooms  of  valets-de-place — 
moral  valets-de-place  who  had  set  out  to  sweep  the 
place  clean  but  had  never  had  the  courage  to  go 
further.  To  the  right  of  us  were  the  hotels — the 
"  St.  James's"  and  the  " De  Paris"  ;  to  the  left, 
the  Casino  gardens  again,  and  the  shallow  pools 
where  the  frogs  croak  so  dolorously  at  nightfall. 
They  are,  I  believe  (for  I  am  a  Pythagorean),  the 
souls  of  ruined  gamblers,  still  croaking  out  their 
quatrepremier,  their  dix-quinze,i\\e\rdouze  dernier. 

"Peace,  batrachians  !"  I  cried  to  them  one 
evening,  in  the  exalted  mood  that  now  became 
common  to  me.  "  Be  still,  hoarse  souls  !  push 
no  more  shadowy  stakes  upon  a  board  of  shadows 
with  your  webbed  fingers.  We  are  here  to  avenge 
ye!"' 

Then  we  went  on  down  to  the  front  of  the 
rooms.  There,  unable  to  find  a  seat,  we  leaned 
against  a  lamp-post  and  gloated  on  the  fantastic 


building  that  held  our  future  possessions.  On 
our  left  was  the  Cafe  cle  Paris,  overflowing  with 
consommateurs  at  little  tables  under  the  awning  ; 
from  the  swirling  whirlpool  of  noise  made  by  the 
Hungarian  band  issued  a  maimed  but  recogniz 
able  English  comic  air.  The  sun  was  just  setting 
in  a  matchless  sky  of  Eton  blue  ;  the  breeze  had 
dropped,  and  the  dingy  Monaco  flag  over  the 
Casino  hung  inert. 

"Soldiers!"  whispered  Teddy,  giving  me  a 
frightened  nudge. 

They  were,  apparently,  a  couple  of  officers  of 
the  prince's  army,  strolling  round,  smoking  cheap 
cigars  ;  they  carried  no  side  arms,  and  were  of 
no  particular  physique.  "  Besides,"  I  said,  "  they 
are  not  allowed  to  enter  the  rooms.  Don't  be  so 
nervous,  Teddy." 

"  Let  us  go  down  on  to  the  terrace,"  murmured 
Brentin,  "and  view  the  place  from  the  back.  We 
must  see  how  close  we  can  get  the  yacht  up  !" 

So  we  went  to  the  right,  past  the  jingling  om 
nibus  crawling  up  from  the  Condamine,  down  the 
steps,  and  on  to  the  terrace  facing  the  sea.  We 
passed  the  firemen  Bailey  Thompson  told  us  AVO 
should  find  there,  five  or  six  of  them  ;  one  at 
every  twenty  paces,  in  uniform,  with  an  odd  sort 
of  gymnastic  belt  on.  They  were  stationed  at  the 
back,  too,  and  clearly  formed  a  complete  protec 
tion  against  any  possible  bomb-throwing. 

"  There  are  too  many  of  those  men,"  observed 
Brentin,  irritably.  "  We  shall  have  to  do  some 
thing  to  draw  them  off  on  our  great  night  or 
they'll  get  in  the  way." 


100 


Then  we  went  and  looked  over  the  balustrade 
of  the  terrace.  Below  us  ran  the  railway  from 
Monaco  ;  on  the  other  side  of  the  line,  connected 
by  an  iron  bridge  with  the  Casino  terrace,  was 
the  pigeon  -  shooting  club  house  and  grounds. 
They  formed  a  sort  of  bastion,  jutting  out  into 
the  sea  ;  the  pale,  wintry  grass  was  still  marked 
with  the  traps  of  last  year. 

"  That  won't  do  !"  Brentin.  said,  decisively,  af 
ter  a  few  moments'  survey.  "  The  run's  too  far 
over  that  bridge  and  down  across  the  grass.  Be 
sides,  we  should  want  rope  ladders  before  we 
could  get  down  the  Avail.  Come,  gentlemen,  let 
us  try  this  way." 

We  went  to  the  extreme  right  of  the  terrace, 
and  there,  miraculously  enough,  we  found  at 
once  the  very  thing  we  wanted.  Mr.  Brentin 
merely  pointed  at  it  in  silence,  keeping  his  atti 
tude  till  we  had  all  grasped  the  situation.  It 
was  a  rickety  gate  at  the  head  of  an  evidently 
nnused  flight  of  steps,  leading  down  on  to  the 
railway  line  below.  Beside  it  stood  a  weather 
worn  board  with  "Defense  d' entree  au  public"  on 
it.  It  looked  singularly  out  of  place  amid  all  that 
smart  newness  ;  but  there  it  was,  the  very  thing 
we  were  in  search  of. 

The  railway  below  ran  six  or  eight  feet  above 
the  sea,  without  any  protecting  parapet  to  speak 
of.  Just  at  the  angle  where  the  pigeon-shooting 
ground  jutted  out  there  was  a  sort  of  broken 
space,  where,  for  some  reason  (perhaps  to  allow 
the  employes  to  descend),  rocks  were  piled  up 
from  the  shore.  A  boat  could  be  there  in  wait- 


101 


ing ;  the  yacht  could  lie  thirty  yards  off  ;  if  we 
had  designed  the  place  ourselves,  we  couldn't 
have  done  it  better. 

Mr.  Brentin  slowly  pointed  a  fateful  finger 
down  the  steps,  across  the  line,  to  the  corner 
where  the  shore  lay  so  close  and  handy. 

"Do  you  observe  it,  gentlemen?"  he  whis 
pered,  awe-struck — "do  you  take  it  all  in  ?  There 
is  no  tide  in  the  Mediterranean  ;  the  edge  of  the 
sea  will  always  be  there.  Even  if  the  night  turns 
out  as  black  as  velvet  we  could  find  the  boat 
there  blindfold." 

It  was  a  solemn  moment,  broken  only  by  the 
jingle  of  omnibus  bells.  I  felt  like  Wolfe  when 
he  first  spied  the  broken  path  that  led  up  the  cliff 
face  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Heights  of 
Abraham. 

By  accident  or  design,  Brentin  gave  Teddy 
Parsons's  white  llornburg  hat  a  tilt  with  his  el 
bow  ;  it  tumbled  off  down  the  face  of  the  terrace 
and  fell  out  of  sight  on  to  the  line. 

"  There's  your  chance,  Teddy,"  I  said.  "  Kim 
down  the  steps  and  fetch  your  hat.  You  can 
see  if  there's  another  gate  at  the  bottom  where 
that  bunch  of  cactus  is." 

Teddy  came  back  breathless.  "There's  no 
sort  of  obstruction,"  he  gasped.  "  It's  a  clear  run 
all  the  way.  Only  we  shall  have  to  be  careful,  if 
the  night's  dark;  some  of  the  steps  are  broken." 
Poor  Teddy,  how  prophetic  ! 

We  entered  the  rooms  for  the  first  time  after 
dinner. 

Readers  who  have  been  to  Monte  Carlo  will  re- 


102 


member  that,  before  going  into  the  hall,  there  is 
a  room  on  the  left,  where  half  a  dozen  men  sit 
writing  cards  of  admission  and  drawing  up  lists 
of  visitors.  They  make  no  trouble  abont  it,  they 
simply  ask  you  your  hotel  and  nationality — 
Aiiglish,  hein? — and  hand  you  over  a  pink  card, 
good  only  for  one  day.  Then  you  go  to  the  right 
and  leave  your  stick.  Neither  stick  nor  um 
brella  are  allowed  in  the  rooms.  "  Another  point 
in  our  favor/'  as  I  whispered  to  Brentin. 

Facing  is  the  large  hall ;  up  and  down  stroll 
gamblers,  come  out  for  a  breath  of  air  or  the 
whiff  of  a  cigarette.  Any  one  may  use  it,  or  the 
concert-room  on  the  right,  or  the  reading-rooms 
above,  without  a  ticket ;  the  ticket  is  needed 
only  for  the  gambling.  You  can  even  cash  a 
check  or  discount  a  bill  there  ;  for  clerks  are 
in  attendance  from  the  different  banking-houses, 
within  and  without  the  principality,  who  will  at 
tend  to  your  wants  as  a  loser  or  take  charge  of 
your  winnings. 

On  the  left,  heavy  doors  are  constantly  swing 
ing.  You  can  hear,  if  you  listen,  as  they  swing, 
the  faint,  enticing  clink  of  the  five-franc  pieces 
within. 

"  Oh,  my  friends,"  murmured  Brentin,  as  we 
moved  towards  them,  "support  me  !" 

He  presented  his  pink  card  with  a  low  bow  to 
the  two  men  guarding  the  entrance  ;  we  followed, 
and  the  next  minute  were  palpitating  in  the  sti 
fling  atmosphere  of  the  last  of  the  European  pub 
lic  infernos. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

MRS.  WING  HAM  AND  TEDDY  PARSONS— HE  FOOLISHLY  CON 
FIDES   IN   HER — I   MAKE   A   SIMILAR  MISTAKE 

Now  there  was  staying  at  our  hotel,  among 
other  quiet  people,  a  quiet  old  lady,  whom,  from 
her  accent  and  the  way  she  occasionally  stumbled 
over  an  h,  I  took  to  be  the  widow  of  a  well-to- 
do  tradesman,  a  suburban  bon  mar  die,  or  stores. 
She  played  regularly  every  afternoon  till  dinner 
time,  dressed  in  black,  with  a  veil  down  just  be 
low  the  tip  of  her' nose,  and  worn  black  kid 
gloves,  staking  mostly  on  the  pair  or  impair  at 
roulette  ;  and  every  evening  she  sat  in  the  hotel 
over  a  bit  of  wood  fire,  reading  either  Le  Petit 
Nipois  or  an  odd  volume  of  Sartor  Resartus, 
which,  with  some  ancient  torn  Graphics,  formed 
the  library  of  the  "  Monopole."  Her  name  I  dis 
covered  afterwards  to  be  Mrs.  Wingham. 

It  was  only  the  third  evening  after  our  arrival 
that,  going  into  the  reading-room  to  write  my 
daily  loving  letter  to  Lucy,  there  I  found  Mrs. 
Wingham  and  Teddy  Parsons  seated  each  side  of 
the  fire,  talking  away  as  confidentially  as  if  they 
had  known  each  other  all  their  lives.  Bob  Hines, 
who  had  taken  to  gambling  and  couldn't  be  kept 
away  from  the  rooms,  and  Brentin  had  gone 
down  to  the  Casino. 


104 


Few  things  I  know  more  difficult  than  to  write 
a  letter  and  at  the  same  time  listen  to  a  conver 
sation,  and  I  soon  found  myself  writing  down 
scraps  of  Teddy's  inflated  talk,  working  it,  in 
spite  of  myself,  into  my  letter  to  Lucy — talk  all 
the  more  inflated  as  I  had  come  into  the  room 
quietly  at  his  back,  and  he  didn't  know  I  was 
there. 

He  was  telling  the  old  lady  all  about  his  father, 
the  colonel,  and  how  he  had  fought  through  the 
Crimea  without  a  scratch.  Yes,  he  was  in  the 
army  himself — at  least,  the  auxiliary  portion  of 
it :  the  second  line.  He  lived  most  of  the  year  at 
Sotithport,  when  he  wasn't  out  with  his  regi 
ment,  or  hunting  and  shooting  with  friends,  and 
always  came  up  to  London  for  the  Derby  and 
stayed  in  Duke  Street.  He  was  very  fond  of  a 
bit  of  racing,  and,  in  fact,  owned  some  race 
horses — or,  rather,  "a  chaser" — 

"A  what,  sir?"  asked  the  old  woman,  who 
was  listening  to  him  with  her  mouth  open. 

"  A  chaser — a  steeple-chaser,  don't  you  know — 
'  Tenderloin,'  which  was  entered  for  the  Grand 
National,  and  would  be  sure  to  be  heavily  backed." 

No,  he  didn't  care  much  about  gambling  ;  a 
man  didn't  get  a  fair  run  for  his  money  at  Monte 
Carlo,  the  bank  reserved  too  many  odds  in  their 
own  favor ;  to  say  nothing,  as  I  knew,  of  his 
being  kept  very  short  of  pocket-money  by  the 
colonel.  And  then  he  was  actually  fool  enough 
to  say,  with  a  self-satisfied  laugh,  that  he'd  a 
notion  the  right  way  to  treat  the  bank  was  to 
raid  it. 


105 


' '  Kaid  it,  sir  ?"  cried  the  old  woman. 

"  Yes,  certainly,  raid  it ;  go  into  the  rooms  with 
a  pistol  and  shout  '  Hands  up,  everybody  !'  and 
carry  off  all  the  money  on  board  a  yacht,  and  be 
off,  full  speed."  Did  Mrs.  Wingham  know  if  it 
had  ever  been  tried  ? 

From  that  to  confiding  our  whole  plan  would 
have  been  only  one  step  ;  but  just  at  that  moment 
in  came  Mrs.  Sellars  and  Miss  Marter,  the  only 
two  other  English  ladies  in  the  hotel,  and  Teddy 
and  Mrs.  Wingham  fell  to  talking  in  whispers. 

Mrs.  Sellars,  who  was  a  stout,  comfortable- 
looking  person,  with  a  large  nose,  a  high  color, 
and  an  expansive  figure,  generally  attired  in  a 
blouse  and  a  green  velveteen  skirt,  was  given  to 
walking  up  and  down  the  reading-room,  moaning 
in  theatrical  agony  over  the  disquieting  news 
from  South  Africa.  If  she  didn't  get  a  letter  from 
her  husband  in  the  morning,  she  didn't  know 
what  she  should  do  ;  it  was  weeks  since  she  had 
heard  from  him ;  something  told  her  he  was 
dead^and  so  on.  Every  distressed  turn  she 
took  brought  her  nearer  the  ramshackle  piano  ; 
so  at  last  Miss  Marter,  mainly  to  stop  her  (for 
old  maids  don't  take  much  interest  in  other 
women's  husbands,  alive  or  dead),  with  some  as 
perity  remarked,  "Sing  us  something,  dear;  it 
will  calm  you/' 

Then  she  came  to  me  and  said,  excitedly,  "  Do 
you  mind  if  I  bring  down  rny  little  dog  ?  I  al 
ways  ask,  as  people  sometimes  object.  It  is  the 
dearest  little  dog,  and  always  sits  in  my  lap." 

Teddy  gave  a  violent  start  when  he  heard  me 


106 


answer,  and  knew  he  Avas  detected.  He  got  up, 
and,  pretending  to  hum,  immediately  left  the 
room.  I  didn't  like  to  follow  at  once,  as  I  felt 
inclined ;  it  would  look  as  though  Mrs.  Sellars's 
threatened  singing  drove  me  away.  But  the 
moment  she  finished  I  meant  to  go  and  give  the 
wind-bag  a  good  blowing-up,  and  meantime  went 
on  with  my  letter. 

Mrs.  Sellars  hooted  "'Tis  I"  and  "In  the 
Gloaming/'  and  was  beginning  "Twickenham 
Ferry "  when  she  broke  down  over  the  accom 
paniment,  rose,  and  came  to  the  fire.  Miss 
Marter  Avas  sitting  one  side  of  it,  stroking  her 
torpid  little  terrier,  and  Mrs.  Wingham  (AV!IO 
Avas  focussing  Sartor  Resartus  through  her  glass 
es)  on  the  other. 

"  Thank  you,  dear/'  said  Miss  Marter.  "  I 
hope  you  feel  calmer." 

"  I  shall  never  be  calmer/'  Mrs.  Sellars  moaned, 
"till  George  is  home  again  at  my  side." 

"  AVell,  dear,"  Miss  Marter  maliciously  replied, 
looking  down  her  long  nose,  "you  knoAV  you  in 
sisted  on  his  going." 

So  I  left  the  tAvo  ladies  to  squabble  as  to  who 
Avas  mainly  responsible  for  George's  being  in 
South  Africa  in  such  ticklish  times,  and  Avent  in 
search  of  Teddy. 

He  Avas  neither  in  fhefumoir  nor  his  bedroom, 
so  doAvn  I  Avent  to  the  rooms. 

There  I  found  Bob  Hines  punting  on  the  mid 
dle  dozen  and  the  last  six  at  roulette,  Avith  a  pile 
of  five-franc  pieces  before  him. 

"  Those  your  winnings  ?"  I  whispered;  to  which 


107 


he  gave  the  not  over-polite  reply,  "  How  can  you 

be  such  a  fool  ?" 

80  I  knew  he  was  losing,  and  went  off  in  search 
of  Brent  in. 

I  found  him  in  an  excited  circle  watching  a 
common  -  looking  Englishman  at  the  trente-et- 
quarante  tables,  who  with  great  coolness  was 
staking  the  maximum  of  twelve  thousand  francs, 
two  at  a  time,  one  on  coulcur  and  one  on  black. 
In  front  of  him  the  notes  were  piled  so  high  that, 
being  a  little  man,  he  had  to  press  them  down 
with  his  elbows  before  he  could  use  his  rake. 
Sometimes  he  won  one  bundle  of  notes,  neatly 
pinned  together  and  representing  the  maximum; 
sometimes  both,  as  couleur  and  black  turned  out 
alike.  Rarely  he  lost  both.  Others  were  staking, 
but  mostly  only  paltry  louis,  or  the  broad,  shin 
ing  five-louis  pieces  one  only  sees  at  Monte  Car 
lo.  There  was  the  usual  church -like  silence, 
broken  only  by  the  dry,  sharp  tones  of  the  crou 
pier's  harsh  voice,  "  Le  jcu  cxt  fait !"  and  then, 
sharper  still,  "  Rien  no  va  plus!" 

Once  the  tension  was  broken  by  a  titter  of 
laughter,  as  a  withered  little  Italian  with  a 
frightened  air  threw  a  five-franc  piece  down  on 
the  board  and  the  croupier  pushed  it  back.  The 
poor  devil  apparently  didn't  know  that  gold  only 
may  be  staked  at  trente-et-quarante. 

I  plucked  Brentin  by  the  sleeve  and  drew  him 
to  a  side  seat  against  the  wall.  "  I  hope  that 
gentleman  may  be  staking  here  this  day  week," 
he  chuckled.  "  Notes  are  easy  to  carry,  and  I 
mvself  have  seen  him  win  sixty  thousand  francs." 


108 


When  he  heard  about  Teddy  he  was  furious. 
It  was  all  I  could  do  to  prevent  him  from  going 
off  at  once  to  the  hotel  and  insisting  on  his  leav 
ing  Monte  Carlo  by  the  next  train. 

"I  allow,"  he  said,  "I  was  precipitate  with 
Bailey  Thompson,  but  at  least  we  drew  something 
out  of  him  in  the  way  of  information.  But  to 
confide  in  a  blathering  old  woman,  who  has  noth 
ing  to  do  but  eat  and  talk — " 

I  went  back  to  the  hotel,  only  to  find  Teddy's 
bedroom  door  locked,  and  to  have  my  knocking 
greeted  with  a  loud,  sham  snore.  Mrs.  Wingham 
I  found  still  in  the  reading-room,  alone,  still  fo 
cussing  Sartor  Resartus  with  her  shocked  and 
puzzled  expression. 

"Your  friend  has  just  gone  up  to  bed,"  she 
remarked,  "if  you  are  looking  for  him." 

I  thanked  her,  and,  sitting  the  other  side  of  the 
fire,  proceeded  to  draw  her  out.  She  soon  told 
me  Teddy  was  so  like  a  nephew  of  hers  she  had 
recently  lost  she  had  felt  obliged  to  speak  to 
him.  She  noticed  him  at  once,  she  said,  the  first 
evening  at  dinner,  and  felt  drawn  to  him  imme 
diately.  What  a  fine,  manly  young  feller  he  was, 
and  how  full  of  sperrit. 

Yes,  I  said,  he  was,  and  often  had  very  ingen 
ious  ideas — for  instance,  that  notion  of  his  to 
raid  the  tables  I  had  overheard  him  discussing 
with  her.  But,  then,  there  was  all  the  difference 
in  the  world  between  having  an  idea  and  the 
carrying  it  out,  wasn't  there  ?  Merely  as  a  mat 
ter  of  curiosity,  what  did  she  think  of  the  notion 
— she,  who  doubtless  knew  the  place  so  well? 


109 


The  artful  old  woman — Bailey  Thompson's  sis 
ter,,  if  you  please,  and  spy,  as  it  afterwards  turned 
out ;  hence  his  recommending  us  the  "  Monopole," 
so  that  she  might  keep  an  eye  on  us  and  report — 
the  artful  old  woman  looked  puzzled,  as  though 
she  were  trying  to  remember  what  it  was  Teddy 
had  said  on  the  subject.  Then  she  began  to 
laugh.  "Oh,  I  didn't  think  much  of  that.  Why, 
look  at  all  the  people  there  are  about  !  Why, 
you'd  need  a  ridgiment  !" 

Kow,  will  it  be  believed  that  I,  who  had  just 
been  so  righteously  indignant  with  Parsons  for 
his  talkative  folly,  did  myself  (feeling  uncom 
monly  piqued  at  her  scornful  tone)  immediately 
set  out  to  prove  to  her  the  thing  was  perfectly 
possible,  and  then  and  there  explain  in  detail 
how  it  could  all  be  successfully  done,  and  with 
how  small  a  force.  I  did,  indeed,  so  true  as  I  arn 
sitting  writing  here  now,  in  our  flat  in  Victoria 
Street. 

Mrs.  Wingham  listened  to  me  attentively, 
laughing  to  herself  and  saying,  "Dear!  dear! 
so  it  might !"  as  she  rubbed  her  knuckled  old 
hands  between  her  black  silk  knees.  When  I  had 
done,  I  felt  so  vexed  with  myself  I  could  have 
bitten  my  tongue  out. 

I  rose,  however,  and,  observing,  "  Of  course,  it 
is  an  idea  and  nothing  else,  and  never  will  be 
realized,"  bade  her  good-night  and  left  the  room, 
feeling  uncommonly  weak  and  foolish.  She  mur 
mured,  "  Oh,  of  course  !"  as  I  closed  the  noisy 
glass  door  behind  me  and  went  up-stairs  to  bed. 

A  few  minutes  later,  remembering  I  had  left 


110 


my  book  on  the  table  where  I  had  been  writing 
to  Lucy,  I  went  down-stairs  again  to  fetch  it. 
Mrs.  Wingham  was  still  there,  sitting  at  the  table 
writing  a  letter.  The  envelope,  already  written, 
was  lying  close  by  my  book,  and  I  couldn't  help 
reading  it. 

It  was  positively  addressed  to  "  Jas.  B.  Thomp 
son,  Esq.,  3  Aldrich  Road  Villas,  Brixton  Eise, 
S.  E.  London." 

I  felt  so  faint  I  could  scarcely  get  out  of  the 
room  again  and  up  the  stairs. 

But  such  is  our  insane  confidence,  where  we  our 
selves  and  our  own  doings  are  concerned — such,  at 
any  rate,  was  mine  in  my  lucky  star — that  I  real 
ly  felt  no  difficulty  in  persuading  myself  the 
whole  thing  Avas  merely  a  coincidence,  and  that 
the  writing  of  the  letter  had  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  either  my  or  Teddy  Parsons's  divulga 
tions  ;  more  especially  as  the  Bailey,  on  which 
Thompson  evidently  piqued  himself,  was  omit 
ted. 

And  I  determined  to  say  nothing  about  it  to 
Brentin,  partly  because  I  didn't  care  about  being 
blackguarded  by  an  American,  and  partly  be 
cause  I  felt  convinced  it  was  all  an  accident, 
and  nothing  would  come  of  it.  Xor,  in  my 
generosity,  did  I  do  more  to  Teddy  Parsons 
than  temperately  point  out  the  folly  he  had 
been  guilty  of,  and  beg  him  to  be  more  careful 
in  future,  which  he  very  cheerfully  promised, 
and  for  which  magnanimity  of  mine  he  was, 
as  I  meant  he  should  be,  really  uncommonly 
grateful. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

ARRIVAL    OF    THE    A  M  A  HA  NTH— ALL    WELL    ON    BOARD — 
THEIR   FIRST   EXPERIENCE   OF   THE   ROOMS 

THE  next  afternoon,  soon  after  four,  the  Ama 
ranth  arrived  in  harbor. 

Bob  Hines  was  gambling,  as  usual,  but  Brentin, 
Teddy,  and  I  went  down  to  the  Condamine  to 
meet  them.  Teddy  and  Brentin  had  had  their 
row  out  in  the  morning,  to  which  I  had  listened 
in  silence — with  the  indulgent  air  of  a  man  who 
doesn't  want  to  add  to  the  unpleasantness — and 
now  were  pretty  good  friends  again.  It  was 
clearly  understood,  however,  that  no  new  ac 
quaintances  were  to  be  made,  male  or  female, 
and  that  henceforth  any  one  of  us  seen  talking 
to  a  stranger  was  immediately  to  be  sent  home. 

I  fear  the  party  from  the  Amaranth  did  not 
have  a  very  good  impression  of  Monte  Carlo  to  be 
gin  with,  for  they  landed  in  the  Condamine,  just 
where  the  town  drain-pipes  lie,  and  came  ashore, 
each  of  them,  with  a  handkerchief  to  the  nose. 

"So  this  is  the  Riviera!"  snuffled  my  good 
sister.  "  I  understood  it  was  embosomed  in 
llowers." 

They  all  looked  very  brown  and  well,  and 
seemed  in  high  spirits. 


112 


As  for  the  yacht,  she  had  behaved  splendidly 
all  through,  and  the  conduct  and  polite  atten 
tions  of  Captain  Evans  and  the  crew  had  been 
above  all  praise.  The  only  difficulty  had  been 
to  explain  away  the  shell  and  the  three  cannon ; 
for  which  Forsyth  had  found  the  ingenious  ex 
cuse  that  they  were  wanted  for  the  Riff  pirates, 
in  case  we  determined  to  voyage  along  the  Afri 
can  coast,  where  they  are  said  to  abound  and 
will  sometimes  attack  a  yacht. 

We  all  strolled  up  the  hill  together,  and,  such 
were  their  spirits,  nothing  would  content  the 
new  arrivals  but  an  immediate  visit  to  the  rooms. 
Miss  Eybot,  especially,  was  as  cheerful  as  a 
blackbird  in  April ;  she  had  come  there  to  gam 
ble,  she  said,  and  gamble  she  would  at  once. 
She  and  Masters  were  evidently  on  the  best  of 
terms,  and  even  the  captious  Brentin  was  pleased 
with  what  people  who  write  books  call  her  "in 
fectious  gayety." 

"You  have  your  own  little  schemes,"  she 
cried,  "and  I  have  mine.  I  am  going  to  win 
fifty  pounds  to  pay  my  debts  with,  and  then  I 
am  going  home,  whether  you  have  finished  or 
not.  Arid  if  I  haven't  finished,  you  will  all  have 
to  leave  me  here." 

They  were  soon  provided  with  their  pink  ad 
mission-cards  (ours  had  that  morning,  after  the 
usual  pretended  scrutiny  and  demur,  been  ex 
changed  for  white  monthly  ones),  and,  after  leav 
ing  their  cloaks,  passed  through  the  swing  doors 
into  the  rooms. 

It  was  just  that  impressive  hour — the  only 


113 


one,  I  think,  at  Monte  Carlo — when  the  Casino 
footmen,  in  their  ill-fitting  liveries,  zigzagged 
with  faded  braid,  bring  in  the  yellow  oil-lamps 
with  hanging  green  shades,  and  sling  them  from 
the  long  brass  chains  over  the  tables.  The  rest 
of  the  rooms  lie  in  twilight,  before  the  electric 
light  is  turned  up.  Dim  figures  sweep  noise 
lessly  as  spectres  over  the  dull-shining  parquet 
floor,  and,  like  a  spear,  I  have  seen  the  last  long 
ray  of  southern  sunshine  strike  in  and  touch 
the  ghastly  hollow  cheek  of  some  old  woman, 
fingering  her  coins,  lifeless  and  mechanical  as 
Charon  fingering  his  passage  -  money  for  the 
dead  ;  but,  just  over  the  tables,  the  yellow  light 
from  the  lamp  falls  brilliant,  yet  softly,  brightly 
illuminating  the  gamblers'  hands  and  some  few 
of  their  faces,  throwing  the  white  numbers  on 
the  rich  green  cloth  as  strongly  into  relief  as 
though  newly  sewn  on  there  of  tape. 

"  Faites  votre  jeu,  messieurs!"  croaks  the 
croupier,  in  his  dry,  toneless  voice. 

With  deft  fingers  he  spins  the  active,  rattling 
little  ball. 

"  Lejeu  est  fait  !" 

The  white  ball  begins  to  tire,  drops  out  of  its 
circuit. 

"  Run  ne  va  plus  !" 

A  few  seconds  of  leaping  indecision  and  rest 
lessness,  before  the  ball  falls  finally  into  a  num 
ber  and  remains  there,  while  the  board  still 
spins. 

"  Trente-six! — Rouge,  pair  et  manque!" 

The  croupiers'  rakes  are  busy,  pulling  in  the 


114 


money  lost;  the  money  won  is  thrown  with  dull, 
heavy  thuds  and  clinks  on  to  the  table.  In  a 
few  moments  it  is  begun  all  over  again. 

" Faites  votre  jeu,  messieurs!" 

"So  this  is  Monte  Carlo  !"  whispered  my  sis 
ter,  in  the  proper,  hushed  tones,  as  though  ask 
ing  me  for  something  to  put  in  the  collection. 
"  My  one  objection  is,  no  one  looks  in  the  least 
haggard  or  anxious.  I  understood  I  should  see 
such  terrible  faces,  and  they  all  look  as  bored 
as  people  at  an  ordinary  London  dinner-party. 
Take  me  round." 

Brentin  came  with  us,  and  we  visited  each  of 
the  busy  roulette-tables  in  turn.  Monte  Carlo 
was  very  full,  and  round  some  of  the  tables  the 
crowd  was  so  deep  it  was  impossible  to  get  near 
enough  to  look,  much  less  to  play.  But  between 
the  tables  there  were  large  vacant  spaces  of  dull- 
shining,  greasy  parquet  ;  the  tables  looked  like 
populous  places  on  the  map,  and  the  flooring 
like  open  country.  Here  and  there  stood  the 
footmen,  straight  out  of  an  old  Adelphi  melo 
drama  ;  some  of  them  carried  trays  and  glasses 
of  water,  and  some  gave  you  cards  to  mark  the 
winning  numbers  and  the  colors. 

"  It  is  not  quite  so  splendid  and  gay  as  I  im 
agined,"  my  sister  observed.  "  In  fact,  it's  all 
rather  dim  and  dingy.  Do  you  know  it  reminds 
me  of  the  Pavilion  at  Brighton  more  than  any 
thing  else.  And  how  common  some  of  the  peo 
ple  are  !  Isn't  that  your  friend,  Mr.  Ilines  ?" 

Bob  Ilines  was  sitting  in  rather  a  melancholy 
heap,  with  a  pile  of  five-franc  pieces  in  front  of 


115 


him,  and  a  card  on  which  he  was  morosely  writ 
ing  the  numbers  as  they  came  up. 

"  Let's  ask  him  how  he's  doing  ?" 

"Never  speak  to  a  gambler/'  I  whispered; 
"it's  considered  unlucky." 

"Judging  from  his  expression,  he  will  be  glad 
to  get  something  back  in  your  raid  !  And  why 
seat  himself  between  those  two  terrible  old 
women  ?" 

"They  look,"  Brentin  murmured,  "like  rep 
resentations  of  friend  Zola's  the  fat  and  the  lean. 
Sakes  alive  !  they'd  make  the  fortune  of  a  dime 
museum.  Those  women  are  freaks,  ma'am, 
freaks." 

Ilines  was  sitting  between  two  ladies ;  one, 
with  a  petulant  face  of  old  childishness,  was 
enormously  stout.  Her  eyebrows  were  densely 
blackened,  her  pendulous  cheeks  as  dusty  with 
powder  as  the  Mentone  road.  She  was  gorge 
ously  overdressed  ;  her  broad  bosom,  fluid  as  of 
arrested  molten  tallow,  was  hung  Avith  colored 
jewels,  like  a  bambino.  With  huge  gloved  hands 
and  arms  she  was  wielding  a  rake,  whereof  poor 
Bob  had  occasionally  the  end  in  his  face.  Be 
side  her,  on  the  green  cloth,  lay  a  withered 
bunch  of  roses,  dead  of  her  large,  cruel  grasp. 
At  her  back  stood  her  husband,  a  German  Jew 
financier,  who  couldn't  keep  his  pince-nez  on. 
Continually  he  smoothed  his  thin  hair  and  tried 
to  get  her  away,  grumbling  and  moving  from  leg 
to  leg ;  for  hours  he  would  stand  behind  her 
chair,  supplying  her  with  money,  for  she  nearly 
always  lost.  Occasionally  she  grabbed  other  peo- 


116 


pie's  stakes,  or  they  grabbed  hers.  Then  she 
was  sublime  in  her  horrible  ill-humor ;  half  ris 
ing,  with  her  great  arms  resting  on  the  table,  she 
shouted  at  the  croupiers  to  be  paid,  in  harsh, 
rattling,  fish-fag  tones.  The  sunken  corners  of 
her  small  mouth  were  drawn  upward  ;  the  deep- 
set  eyes  worked  in  dull  fury  ;  you  saw  short, 
Avhite  teeth  that  once  had  smiled  in  a  pretty 
Watteau  face.  Now  the  body  was  old  and  torpid 
and  swollen  ;  but  the  rabbit  intelligence  was  still 
undeveloped,  except  in  the  direction  of  its  ra 
pacity. 

Poor  Bob  Hines  !  He  was  indeed  badly  placed  ! 
On  his  other  side  sat  a  lath-and-plaster  widow  in 
the  extensive  mourning  of  a  Jay's  advertisement. 
Her  face  was  yellow  and  damaged  as  a  broken  old 
fresco  at  Florence  ;  thin,  oblong,  brittle,  only  the 
semi-circular,  blackened  eyebrows  seemed  alive. 
The  dyed,  pallid  hair  looked  dead  as  a  Lowther 
Arcade  dolFs  ;  dead  were  her  teeth,  her  long, 
thin,  griffin  hands  with  curved  nails.  Decom 
position,  even  by  an  emotion,  was  somehow  pal 
pably  arrested  ;  perhaps  she  was  frozen  by  the 
bitter  chill  of  fatal  zero.  Horrible,  old,  crape- 
swathed  mummy,  one  would  have  said  she  had 
lost  even  her  husband  at  play.  Who  could  ever 
have  been  found  to  love  her  ?  At  whom  had  she 
ever  smiled  ?  at  what  had  she  ever  laughed  or 
wept  ?  Bride  of  Frankenstein's  monster,  she 
worked  her  muck-rake  with  the  small,  dry,  gal 
vanized  gestures  of  an  Edison  invention.  Poor 
Bob  Hines !  It  sickened  me  to  think  these 
women,  and  others  perhaps  Avorse,  were  of  the 


117 


same  sisterhood  Avith  Lucy.  What  a  day  when 
we  should  sweep  them  all  out  before  us,  as  the 
fresh  autumn  wind  sweeps  the  withered  leaves 
across  the  walks  of  Kensington  Gardens  ! 

"  So  this  is  Monte  Carlo  !"  murmured  my  sister 
again.  "  It  stifles  me  !  Take  me  out  to  the  Cafe 
de  Paris  and  give  me  some  tea." 

As  she  took  my  arm  and  we  went  down  the 
steps,  "Easier  place,  however,  to  raid,"  she  re 
marked,  "I  never  saw.  As  for  the  morality  of 
it,  I  was  a  little  doubtful  at  first,  but  now — " 


CHAPTER  XV 

INFLUENCE  OF  CLIMATE  ON  ADVENTURE  —  UNEXPECTED 
ARRIVAL  OF  LUCY  —  HER  REVELATIONS  —  DANGER 
AHEAD 

So  a  few  days  passed,  and,  pleasantly  idle 
though  it  all  was,  it  began  to  be  time  for  us  to 
think  seriously  of  our  purport  in  being  at  Monte 
Carlo  at  all.  Our  party  had  very  easily  fallen 
into  the  ways  of  the  place,  and  appeared  to  be 
enjoying  themselves,  each  in  their  own  fashion, 
amazingly. 

"  Here's  Teddy's  got  a  bicycle,"  as  I  said  to 
Brentin,  "and  is  always  over  at  Mentone  with 
friends.  Bob  Hines  does  nothing  but  gamble, 
and  is  scarcely  ever  with  us,  even  at  meal-times. 
He  lives  on  sandwiches  and  hot  grog  Americaine 
at  the  Cafe  de  Paris.  Forsyth  struts  about  in 
fancy  suits,  making  eyes  at  the  ladies,  and  Mas 
ters  is  all  day  at  the  back  of  Miss  Eybot's  chair, 
supplying  her  with  fresh  funds  and  taking  charge 
of  her  winnings." 

"C'est  magnifiquc,"  yawned  Brentin,  "  mais  ce 
n'est  pas  la  guerre." 

"It's  worse,"  I  said;  "it's  Capua,  simply,  and 
must  be  put  a  stop  to." 

"  I  know  if  I  were  here  a  fortnight  longer," 


119 


yawned  my  sister,  "  with  nothing  to  do,  I  should 
desert  my  husband  and  child  and  be  off  into  Italy 
along  the  Corniche  with  white  mice." 

"  Turn  pifferari ;  exactly,'"'  said  Brentin. 
"Therefore,  sir,  we  must  move  in  this  busi 
ness,  and  the  sooner  the  better,  or  the  golden 
opportunity  will  slip  by  us,  never  to  return. 
And  that's  all  there  is  to  it.  We  will  summon 
a  council  of  war  this  evening  on  board  the  Am 
aranth  and  fix  the  day  finally." 

"Well,  all  I  ask  is,"  said  my  sister,  "'that  in 
case  of  failure  Miss  Rybot  and  I  are  afforded  ev 
ery  opportunity  of  escape.  I  don't  want  to  give 
those  Medworth  Square  people  the  chance  of  com 
ing  and  crowing  over  me  in  a  French  prison.  Be 
sides,  it  wouldn't  do  Frank's  business  any  good, 
if  I  Avere  caught/' 

"Why,  just  think  what  a  book  you  could 
make  of  it,"  I  murmured — "Penal  Servitude  for 
Life;  by  a  Lady.  Eivers  would  make  his  fort 
une." 

What  would  have  been,  after  all,  the  end  of  our 
adventure,  whether  the  sunshine  might  not  have 
softened  us  into  finally  abandoning  the  enterprise 
altogether — to  my  lasting  shame  and  grief  ! — I 
cannot  take  upon  myself  to  say.  All  I  know  for 
certain  is,  that  if  our  hands  had  not  been,  in  a 
measure,  forced — if  circumstances  had  not  made 
it  rather  more  dangerous  for  us  to  go  back 
than  to  go  on — our  party  would  at  any  rate  have 
needed  an  amount  of  whipping  into  line  which 
would  as  likely  as  not  have  driven  them  into  rest 
ive  retirement,  instead  of  the  somewhat  alarmed 


120 


advance  which  was  ultimately  forced  on  ns  and 
turned  out  so  entirely  successful. 

And  as  it  is  my  particular  pride  to  think  I  owe 
the  undertaking,  in  the  first  place,  to  my  love  for 
Lucy,  so  it  is  my  joy  to  reflect  how  the  final 
carrying  of  it  out  was  clue  to  her  affection  for 
me,  that  drove  her  to  journey  —  quite  unused 
to  foreign  parts  as  she  was  —  right  across  Eu 
rope,  alone,  and  give  me  timely  warning  of  the 
dastardly  scheme  on  foot  for  our  capture  and 
ruin. 

It  was  the  very  afternoon  following  the  morn 
ing  of  our  brief  conversation  on  the  terrace  that 
I  went  back  early  to  the  hotel,  with  some  natural 
feelings  of  depression  and  irritation  at  the  grow 
ing  callous  inertia  of  our  party. 

I  was  going  up  to  my  room,  when  from  the 
reading-room  I  heard  the  sound  of  the  piano. 
I  stopped  in  some  amazement,  for  there  Avas  be 
ing  played  an  air  I  never  heard  any  one  but  Lucy 
play.  It  was  an  old  Venetian  piece  of  church 
music  (by  Gordigiani,  if  I  remember  right),  and  I 
had  never  heard  it  anywhere  but  at  "  The  French 
Horn,"  on  the  rather  damaged  old  cottage  piano 
in  the  little  room  behind  the  bar. 

I  stole  down-stairs  again,  and,  my  heart  beat 
ing,  opened  the  glass  door  noiselessly. 

It  was  Lucy  !  and  the  next  moment,  with  a 
little  scream,  she  was  in  my  arms.  I  took  her  to 
the  sofa ;  for  some  moments  she  was  so  agitated 
she  couldn't  speak,  nor  could  I,  believing,  in 
deed,  it  was  a  ghost,  till  I  felt  the  soft  pressure 
of  her  arms  and  the  warmth  of  her  cheek  as  her 


121 


head  lay  on  my  shoulder,  while  she  trembled  and 
sobbed. 

' '  Don't  be  frightened/'  I  murmured.  "  It's 
really  I.  Now,  don't  cry ;  be  calm  and  tell  me 
all  about  it.  We  are  both  safe;  we  love  each 
other.  Nothing  else  in  the  world  matters." 

At  last,  in  broken  tones  and  at  first  with  many 
tears,  she  told  me  the  whole  story.  I  listened  as 
though  I  were  in  a  dream,  and  my  bones  stiffened 
with  anger  and  apprehension. 

The  gist  of  it  was  briefly  this  :  that  one  day 
Mr.  Crage  had  come  down  to  "The  French 
Horn  "  and  had  an  interview  with  her  father  in 
the  bar  parlor.  He  had  come  to  put  an  end  to 
Mr.  Thatcher's  tenancy,  a  yearly  one,  and  turn 
him  out  of  the  inn,  unless,  as  he  suggested,  ex 
actly  like  a  villain  on  the  stage,  Lucy  would, 
for  her  father's  sake,  engage  to  marry  him,  in 
which  case  he  might  remain,  and  at  a  reduced 
rent.  Thatcher,  who,  after  all,  is  a  gentleman, 
declared  the  idea  preposterous,  more  particularly 
as  his  daughter  was  already  engaged,  with  his  full 
consent  and  approbation. 

"Oh,  ah !"  snarled  Crage — "to  that  young  cock 
ney  who  was  down  here  at  Christmas.  Suppose 
you  call  her  in,  however,  and  let  her  speak  for 
herself." 

Whereupon  Lucy  was  sent  for  and  told  of 
Crage's  iniquitous  proposal,  of  which  Thatcher 
very  properly  urged  her  not  to  think,  but  to  re 
fuse  there  and  then. 

"Oh,  ah  !"  Crage  had  grinned.  "The  young 
cockney  has  enough  for  you  all  and  won't  grudge 


122 


it,  I  dare  say.  He's  gone  to  Monte  Carlo,  ain't 
he?" 

Yes,  said  Lucy,  Mr.  Blacker  had,  and  had 
promised  her  not  to  gamble. 

"Gamble  or  not,"  sneered  Crage,  "I  know 
what  he  is  up  to.  The  police  are  already  on  his 
track.  Why,  I  shouldn't  be  the  least  surprised 
to  hear  he's  already  in  their  hands,  and  con 
demned  to  penal  servitude  for  life." 

On  hearing  that,  poor  Lucy  said  she  thought 
she  should  have  dropped  on  the  floor,  like  water. 
But  she  has  the  courage  of  her  race,  and,  telling 
the  old  man  in  so  many  words  he  was  mad,  turned 
to  leave  the  room. 

Now,  it's  an  odd  thing  that  the  old  wretch, 
though  he  never  minded  being  called  a  liar,  never 
could  bear  any  reflection  on  his  sanity — it  was 
the  fusty  remains,  I  suppose,  of  his  old  profes 
sional  Clement's  Inn  pride  ;  so  he  lost  his  temper 
at  once,  and  with  many  shrieks  and  gesticula 
tions  told  them,  the  whole  story. 

That — as  I  have  written — Baily  Thompson  was 
a  detective,  frequently  in  the  "Victoria"  smok 
ing-room  in  the  course  of  his  duty  ;  and  that 
Brentin  had  actually  confided  in  him  —  as  we 
know — all  that  we  were  going  to  do,  that  he 
was  an  old  friend  of  Crage's,  dating  from  the 
Clement's  Inn  days,  and  on  Christmas  night  had 
divulged  the  whole  scheme  just  as  he  had  received 
it  from  us,  telling  him  with  much  glee,  being  a 
season  of  jollity  and  good-will,  how  he  was  going 
to  follow  us  to  Monte  Carlo  and  make  every  dis 
position  to  catch  us  in  the  act.  Crage  added 


123 


that  Bailey  Thompson  had  rather  doubted  at 
first  whether  we  weren't  humbugging  him ;  but 
having  since  heard  from  his  sister,  Mrs.  Wing- 
ham,  that  she  believed  we  were  really  in  earnest, 
was  already  somewhere  on  his  way  out  to  super 
intend  our  capture  in  person. 

"I  didn't  know  what  to  do,"  cried  Lucy,  pite- 
ously  ;  "I  could  only  laugh  in  his  face  and  tell 
him  he  was  the  victim  of  a  practical  joke.'' 

"Practical  joke  !"  Crage  had  screamed;  "you 
wait  till  they're  all  in  prison  ;  perhaps  they'll  call 
that  a  practical  joke,  too.  Now,  look  here, 
Thatcher,  you're  a  sensible  man  ;  you  break  off 
this  engagement  before  the  scandal  overtakes 
you  all,  and  I'll  treat  you  and  your  daughter 
handsomely.  You  shall  stay  on  in  the  inn,  or 
not,  just  as  you  please,  and  the  day  we're  married 
I'll  settle  Wharton  on  dear  Lucy  here.  I  sha'n't 
live  so  very  much  longer,  I  dare  say,"  he  whined — 
"  I'm  eighty-two  next  month — and  then  she  can 
marry  the  young  cockney,  if  she  wants  to,  Avhen 
he's  done  his  time.  Don't  decide  now;  send  me 
up  a  note  in  the  course  of  the  next  few  days. 
Hang  it !  I  won't  be  hard  on  you ;  I'll  give  you 
both  a  fortnight." 

And  with  that  and  no  more  the  wicked  old 
man  had  stumped  out  of  the  bar  parlor. 

Lucy's  mind  was  soon  made  up.  Notwith 
standing  her  father's  expostulations,  she  had  de 
termined  to  come  after  me  and  learn  the  truth 
for  herself ;  and  as  he  couldn't  come  with  her,  to 
come  alone.  She  hadn't  written,  for  fear  of  my 
telegraphing  she  was  not  to  start.  And  here  she 


124 


was,  to  be  told  the  truth,  to  be  reassured,  to  be 
made  happy  once  more ;  if  possible,  to  take  me 
home  with  her. 

"  Oh,  it's  not  true,  Vincent,  dearest !"  she  mur 
mured.  "  It's  all  a  fable,  isn't  it  ?  You're  not 
even  dreaming  of  doing  anything  so  dangerous 
and  foolish  ?" 

Now,  deep  and  true  as  is  my  affection  for  Lucy, 
I  should  have  been  quite  unworthy  of  her  if  I 
had  allowed  myself  to  be  turned  from  so  deeply 
matured  and  worthy  a  purpose  as  ours  merely  by 
her  tears. 

The  more  I  had  seen  of  Monte  Carlo,  the  more 
sincerely  was  I  convinced  of  its  Avorthlessness, 
and  the  dignity  of  a  serious  effort  to  put  a  stop  to 
it.  For  it  is  simply,  as  I  have  written,  a  cocotte's 
paradise  and  nothing  more  ;  and  if,  by  any  effort 
of  mine,  I  could  close  it,Ifelt  I  should  be  render 
ing  a  service  to  humanity  only  second  to  Wilber- 
force  and  the  Slave  Trade.  What  a  glorious 
moment  if  only  I  could  live  to  see  a  large  board 
stuck  out  of  the  Casino  windows  with  A  Venclre 
on  it,  to  say  nothing  of  the  boards  taken  in  from 
outside  the  London  hospitals  and  the  closed 
wards  in  working  order  again,  full  of  sufferers ! 

So  I  calmed  dear  Lucy  and  told  her  how  glad 
I  was  to  see  her  ;  that  above  all  things  she  must 
trust  me  and  believe  what  I  was  doing  and  going 
to  do  was  for  the  best  and  would  turn  out  not 
unworthy  of  nor  unserviceable  to  her  in  the 
long-run  ;  more  especially,  if  only  it  were,  as  we 
had  every  reason  to  believe  it  would  be,  success 
ful. 


125 


After  some  further  talk,  she  promised  to  say 
no  more  and  to  trust  me  entirely,  both  now  and 
always,  begging  me  only  to  assure  her  I  was  not 
angry,  and  that  what  she  had  done  in  coining 
was  really  for  my  benefit  and  welfare.  I  told  her 
truly  she  had  rendered  me  the  greatest  possible 
service,  and  that  I  loved  her  if  possible  more 
deeply  for  this  new  proof  of  her  devotion  than 
before.  Then  I  telegraphed  to  her  father  of  her 
safety,  got  her  something  to  eat,  and  sent  her  off 
early  to  bed  after  her  long  journey  (she  had  come 
second-class,  poor  child,  and  had  stopped  once 
at  least  at  every  station,  and  twice  at  some),  and 
at  nine  o'clock  we  went  down  to  the  Condamine 
to  go  on  board  the  Amaranth  for  our  council  of 
war. 

On  the  way  down  I  told  Brentin  the  reason  of 
Lucy's  sudden  visit,  and  tbe  new  danger  from 
Bailey  Thompson,  who  by  this  time  was  clearly 
on  his  way  after  us,  if  indeed  he  hadn't  already 
arrived.  At  the  same  time,  I  candidly  confessed 
to  my  indiscretion  with  Mrs.  Wingharn,  and  the 
letter  I  had  seen  her  writing  to  her  brother.  We 
found  no  difficulty  in  agreeing  we  both  had  be 
haved  like  arrant  fools,  and  might  very  fairly  be 
pictured  as  standing  on  the  romantic,  but  un 
comfortable,  edge  of  a  precipice. 

"  But  we  must  go  on,  sir,"  said  Brentin,  with 
decision.  "It  will  never  do  to  back  out  now, 
after  coming  so  far  and  spending  so  much  money. 
We  must  never  allow  this  shallow  detective  trash 
to  frighten  us  ;  we  must  meet  him  in  a  friendly 
spirit,  and  find  some  means  to  dump  him  where 


126 


he  may  be  both  remote  and  harmless.  The  Ba 
learic  Isles,  for  choice." 

"What  about  the  band  of  brothers  ?"  I  asked. 
"How  will  they  regard  these  fresh  revelations  ?" 

"  That's  the  difficulty,"  replied  Brentin, 
thoughtfully.  "We  must  exercise  care,  sir,  or 
they'll  be  scattering  off  home  like  Virginia  wheat- 
ears." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

COUNCIL    OP  WAR— CAPTAIN    EVANS'S   DECISION — I    GO   TO 
THE   ROOMS   AND   CONFIDE   IN   MY   SISTER 

WHEN  the  band  of  brothers  in  the  saloon  on 
board  the  Amaranth  heard  all,  or  rather  so  much 
as  we  thought  fit  delicately  to  tell  them,  they 
turned — collectively  and  individually — pale. 

"  Then  there's  an  end  of  it/'  chattered  Teddy. 
"  It  was  a  fool's  journey  from  the  beginning,  and 
the  sooner  we  all  go  home  again  the  better." 

"The  sooner  you  go,  sir,"  retorted  Brentin, 
"the  easier  we  shall  all  breathe.  Is  there  any 
other  palpitating  gentleman  desires  to  climb 
down?" 

"  One  moment,  first,"  said  Hines  ;  "  before  we 
decide  to  break  up,  can't  we  consider  whether 
there  may  not  be  a  way  of  either  stopping  your 
friend  Bailey  Thompson  en  route,  or  at  least  ren 
dering  him  powerless  when  he  arrives  ?  The 
fact  is,"  he  diffidently  continued,  "I  have  lost  a 
good  deal  of  money  here,  and  don't  altogether 
care  about  leaving  it  without  an  effort  of  some 
kind  to  get  it  back,  to  say  nothing  of  the  lark 
of  the  thing,  which  I  take  it  has  been  one  of  its 
chief  recommendations  from  the  first." 

To  say  nothing,  too,  of  the  fact — as  I  knew — 


128 


that  before  leaving  Folkestone  he  had  sent  out  a 
circular  to  the  parents  of  his  boys  to  announce 
the  addition  of  a  swimming-bath  and  a  gymna 
sium  to  his  establishment,  the  n on -erection  of 
which  would  surely  cause  him  to  look  more  fool 
ish  than  a  schoolmaster  cares  about.  And  what 
would  the  boys  say  who  had  cheered  him  loudly 
at  the  end  of  last  term,  when,  in  a  neat  speech, 
he  had  announced  his  generous  intention  ? 

'•'Spoken  like  ay  white  man  \"  cried  Brentin. 
"Why,  whoever  supposed  that  in  an  enterprise 
of  this  magnitude  there  would  not  arise  danger 
and  difficulties  ?  They  are  only  just  beginning, 
gentlemen  ;  if  any  of  you,  therefore,  still  desire 
to  shirk,  he  has  only  to  say  the  word.  Convey 
ance  to  the  shore  is  immediately  at  his  service  ; 
he  can  this  moment  go  and  pack  his  grip  and  be 
way  off  home.  We  shall  be  well  rid  of  him." 

There  was  a  pause,  and  then  Forsyth  said  : 

"  Aren't  you  going,  Parsons  ?" 

Teddy  lighted  a  cigarette  nervously  and  re 
plied  : 

"  Well,  dash  it  all,  let's  hear  what's  proposed 
first." 

"No,  sir!"  shouted  Brentin,  thumping  the 
table.  "You  go  or  you  stay,  one  or  the  other  ; 
we  will  have  no  ha-alf  measures.  The  time  for 
them  has  elapsed." 

"  Very  well,"  stammered  the  unhappy  Parsons, 
"if  you  are  all  going  to  stay,  of  course  I  must 
stay  too.  I  thought  the  affair  was  all  over,  that's 
why  I  spoke.  I  wasn't  thinking,  you  know,  of 
deserting  my  pals." 


129 


"Bravo!"  cried  Hines,  sardonically.  "You 
ain't  exactly  a  hero,  Parsons,  but  I  dare  say  you'll 
do  very  well." 

"  There  is  just  one  thing  I  should  like  to  point 
out,"  Arthur  Masters  observed,  "before  we  go 
any  further.  The  affair  is  assuming  a  somewhat 
grave  aspect,  and  it  is  of  course  possible  that, 
in  spite  of  all  precautions,  we  may,  after  all,  be 
captured,  either  on  shore  or,  later,  on  board  the 
yacht." 

"Hear!     Hear!"  Teddy  murmured. 

"Xow,  is  it  fair  to  get  Captain  Evans  and  the 
crew  into  difficulties  without  letting  them  know 
what  we  are  going  to  do,  and  giving  them  the 
chance  of  refusing  to  join  us  first  ?" 

"Well,  sir,"  objected  Brentin,  "we  always 
meant  to  tell  him,  but  not  until  the  last  mo 
ment,  when  we  should  have  claimed  their  assist 
ance,  if  only  in  removing  the  boodle.  You  see, 
gentlemen,  the  British  sailor  is  a  fine  fellow,  but 
he  is  apt  to  tank-up  and  get  full — full  as  ay  goat, 
gentlemen — and  in  that  condition  he  is  confiding. 
Now  we  have  unfortunately  been  confiding  when 
dry,  but  the  British  sailor — " 

"  We  must  risk  that,"  Masters  replied.  "And, 
after  all,  once  they  are  told  and  have  consented, 
they  can  be  refused  permission  to  go  on  shore 
again  before  we  start." 

"Well,"  said  Forsyth,  "why  not  have  Cap 
tain  Evans  in  and  tell  him  now  ;  then  he  can 
use  his  discretion  as  to  telling  the  crew  at  all  till 
the  last  moment,  or  selecting  the  most  trustwor 
thy  and  sober  of  them  for  his  confidence  at  once." 


130 


So  we  decided  to  send  for  Captain  Evans  be 
fore  going  any  further. 

When  he  stepped  into  the  saloon,  smart  and 
sailor-like,  peaked  cap  in  hand,  Brentin  begged 
him  to  be  seated,  and  gave  him  one  of  his  longest 
and  blackest  cigars. 

Then,  "Captain  Evans,"  he  said,  "we  have 
sent  for  you  so  that  in  case  of  this  affair  of  ours 
going  wrong  you  may  not  have  any  cause  of  com 
plaint  against  us." 

"Aye,  aye,  sir  I"  said  the  captain,  "and  what 
affair  may  that  be  ?" 

He  listened  with  the  deepest  attention  and 
in  complete  silence  while  our  scheme  was  un 
folded. 

"Well,  gentlemen/'  he  said,  when  Brentin 
had  finished,  "I  will  be  perfectly  frank  with 
you.  Your  scheme  is  your  own,  and  you  know 
best  how  far  it  is  likely  to  fail  or  to  succeed. 
But  if  it  fails  and  we  are  all  caught,  I  shall  never 
be  able  to  persuade  the  authorities  I  was  an  in 
nocent  party,  and  there  will  be  an  end  to  any 
future  employment.  I  have  a  wife  and  a  fine 
little  boy  to  think  of,  gentlemen  ;  how  am  I 
going  to  support  them  ?" 

"  Your  objection  is  perfectly  fair,  captain/' 
said  Brentin.  "My  answer  to  it  is,  that  if  you 
get  into  trouble,  I  will  personally  undertake  to 
make  you  an  allowance  of  £150  per  annum  for 
the  period  dooring  which  you  remain  out  of  a 
berth.  In  the  case  of  success,  and  the  boodle 
being  considerable,  you  must  trust  us  to  make 
you  such  a  present  or  solatium  as  shall  in  my 


opinion  repay  you  for  any  risks  you  may  have 
run.  How  will  that  do  ?" 

"  That  will  do,  gentlemen,  thank  you,"  the 
captain  replied.  "And  what  ahout  the  crew  ?" 

"  We  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  select  six  of  the 
most  elegant  of  your  men,  whose  assistance  will 
be  needed  in  the  rooms  on  the  night.  Clothes  will 
be  provided  for  them,  and  their  duties  will  be 
explained  in  good  time.  As  for  the  others,  if 
they  are  to  be  told,  they  must  not  be  allowed  on 
shore.  To-day  is  Wednesday ;  we  propose  to 
start  Friday.  Till  Friday  they  must  be  confined 
on  board." 

"  With  the  exception  of  the  cook,  gentlemen," 
urged  the  captain.  "  He  has  to  go  on  shore 
marketing." 

"  Then  don't  tell  the  cook.  Now,  do  we 
understand  each  other  ?" 

"Aye,  aye,  sir  !" 

"One  question,  captain,"  said  Brentin,  as  he 
rose.  "The  French  corvette  has  left  the  har 
bor,  I  understand  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  she  sailed  to  Villefranche  yester 
day." 

"And  the  Saratoga,  what  of  her  ?" 

"  She's  away  over  at  San  Kemo,  sir,  and  re 
turns  some  time  to-night  or  to-morrow." 

"Thank  you,  Captain  Evans;  that  will  do. 
Good-evening." 

"  My  friends,"  he  said,  as  the  captain  closed 
the  door,  "this  is  going  to  cost  a  lot  of  mon 
ey  ;  let  us  hope  we  shall  all  come  out  right 
side  up." 


132 


"  And  now,  Avhat  about  Bailey  Thompson  ?" 
Bob  Ilines  asked. 

"Our  plan  is  obvious/'  Brentin  replied.  "I 
must  board  the  Saratoga  first  thing  in  the  morn 
ing,  reintrodooce  myself  to  Van  Ginkel,  confide 
in  him  and  beg  him  to  take  Thompson  on  board 
for  us,  and  be  off  with  him  kindly  down  the 
coast.  East  or  west,  he  can  dump  him  where 
he  pleases,  so  long  as  he  does  dump  him  some 
where  and  leave  him  there  like  dirt.  How  does 
that  strike  you,  gentlemen  ?" 

"If  only  he  can  be  got  to  go  !"  I  answered; 
"and  Mrs.  Wingham  ?  You  must  remember  it 
was  he  who  advised  us  to  go  to  the  Monopole, 
no  doubt  giving  the  old  lady  instructions  to 
keep  an  eye  on  us  and  report/' 

"Well,"  said  Brentin,  "Mr.  Parsons  here  is 
her  friend.  He  must  manage  to  let  her  know 
we  don't  start  operations  till  Saturday.  That 
will  put  her  off  the  scent.  And  now,  gentlemen, 
let  us  discuss  details  and  positions." 

I  left  them  to  their  discussion  and  Avent  on 
shore  to  find  my  sister  and  Miss  Kybot,  who 
were  at  the  rooms.  My  sister  knew  nothing 
whatever  about  Lucy — still  less  of  her  being  at 
Monte  Carlo.  I  had  to  make  a  clean  breast  of 
it  all,  and  get  her  to  take  Lucy  on  board  the  yacht 
in  the  morning,  so  as  to  be  out  of  Bailey  Thomp 
son's  way. 

I  found  them  without  much  difficulty,  full  as 
the  rooms  were.  Miss  Rybot  was  seated,  playing 
roulette,  rather  unsuccessfully,  if  I  might  judge 
from  her  ill-humored  expression.  Facing  her, 


133 


standing  staring  at  her  pathetically,  with  a  soft 
hat  crushed  under  his  arm,  was  a  tall,  blond, 
sentimental-looking  young  German. 

"  Tell  that  man  to  go  away,  please,"  she  said 
to  me,  crossly.  "  He's  been  standing  there  star 
ing  at  me  the  last  half-hour,  and  he  brings  me 
bad  luck.  Tell  him  I  hate  the  sight  of  him. 
Tell  him  to  go  aAvay  at  once." 

I  explained  that  I  was  scarcely  sufficient  mas 
ter  of  German  for  all  that. 

"  Keep  my  place,  please,"  she  said,  imperiously, 
and  went  round  to  the  young  man,  who  received 
her  with  a  fascinating  smile. 

"  Vous  comprcnez  le  Franpais?"  I  heard  her 
say  to  him,  folding  her  arms  and  looking  him 
resolutely  full  in  the  face. 

"  Out,  mademoiselle." 

"  Alors,  allez-vous-cn,  sivooplay,"  she  went  on  ; 
"je  n' aime  pas  qu'nu  liomme  me  rcgarde  comma 
<;a.  Vous  me portez  de  la  guigne.  Allcz-vous-cn, 
ou  j'appelle  les  valets.  C'est  inon'i!  Allez-vous- 
cn!  Vous  avez  line  de  ces  figures  qui  porte  de  la 
guigne  toil  jours.  Entendez-vous?  toujours!" 

"With  that,  entirely  unconcerned,  she  resumed 
her  seat,  while  the  young  German,  who  had  hith 
erto  been  under  the  impression  he  had  made  a 
conquest,  strolled  off  somewhat  alarmed  to  an 
other  table. 

My  sister  I  found  in  the  farther  rooms  watch 
ing  the  trente-ct-quarante.  "Hullo,  Vincent!" 
she  said.  "  Council  over  ?  Dear  me,  I  wish  I 
hadn't  promised  Frank  not  to  play  ;  my  fingers 
are  simply  tingling.  However,  I've  been  playing 


134 


in  imagination  and  lost  40,000  francs,  so  perhaps 
it's  just  as  well." 

I  drew  her  to  a  side  seat  and  soon  told  her  all 
about  Lucy  and  her  arrival,  softening  down  the 
Bailey  Thompson  part  for  fear  of  alarming  her 
unduly ;  giving  other  reasons  for  the  dear  girl's 
sudden  descent  on  us,  all  more  or  less  true. 

My  good  sister  was  as  sympathetic  as  usual, 
only  she  entreated  me  to  be  sure  I  was  really  se 
rious  and  in  earnest  this  time. 

"  You  know,  Vincent,"  she  said,  "  you  have  so 
often  come  moaning  to  me  about  young  ladies, 
and  I  have  so  often  asked  them  to  tea  and  taken 
them  to  dances  for  you,  and  nothing  whatever 
has  come  of  it." 

"  But  that  hasn't  been  my  fault,"  I  answered. 
"I  have  simply  got  tired  of  them,  that's  all. 
This  time  I  am  really  in  earnest." 

"  So  you  always  were  !"  she  laughed,  "  up  to  a 
certain  point.  Why,  you're  a  sort  of  a  young 
lady-taster." 

"Well,"  I  replied,  ''how  are  you  to  know 
what  sort  of  cheese  you  like  unless  you  taste 
several ?" 

"Rather  hard  on  the  cheese,  isn't  it  ?  The  proc 
ess  of  tasting  is  apt  to  leave  a  mark." 

"  Oh,  not  in  the  hands  of  an  adroit  and  re 
spectable  cheesemonger's  assistant." 

"Vincent,"  said  my  sister,  severely,  "don't  be 
cynical,  or  I'll  do  nothing." 

All  the  same,  she  knew  what  I  said  was  true. 
Men  would,  I  believe,  always  be  faithful  if  only 
they  could  feel  there  was  anything  really  to  be 


135 


faithful  to.  But  they  meet  an  angel  at  an  even 
ing  party,  and  then,  when  they  go  to  call,  they 
find  the  angel  fled  and  the  most  ordinary  young 
person  in  her  place  ;  one  scarcely  capable  of  in 
spiring  a  school-boy  in  the  fifth  form  to  the  medi 
ocre  height  of  the  most  ordinary  verse-pOAver. 

But  with  Lucy  !  Sympathetic  readers  don't,  I 
am  sure,  look  for  protestations  from  me  where 
she's  concerned.  At  least,  not  now. 

The  end  of  our  talk  was,  it  was  arranged  be 
tween  ns  Lucy  should  go  on  board  the  Amaranth 
in  the  morning  and  there  remain. 

And  the  next  morning  there  she  was  comforta 
bly  installed,  and  already  looking  forward  to  the 
Friday  evening,  when  she  was  told  we  were  going 
to  make  a  move  out  of  harbor,  and  probably  go 
home  by  way  of  the  Italian  coast,  and  possibly 
by  rail  from  Venice. 

Everything  else  was  kept  from  her  carefully, 
which  is,  I  think,  the  worst  of  an  adventure  of 
this  kind  ;  one  is  driven  to  subterfuge  even  with 
those  one  loves  best. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ENTER  MK.  BAILEY  THOMPSON — VAN  GINKEL  STANDS  BY 
US— WE  SHOW  THOMPSON  HOUND  AND  EXPLAIN  DETAILS 
— TEDDY  PAKSONS'S  ALAKM 

THE  Bailey  Thompson  problem  confronted  us 
in  proprid  persona  that  very  same  afternoon,  the 
Thursday,  at  about  half-past  four,  when,  as  we 
were  some  of  us  sitting  outside  the  Cafe  de  Paris 
at  tea,  I  saw  him  strolling  round  the  central 
flower-beds  in  front  of  the  rooms.  He  wore  one 
of  the  new  soft  straw  hats,  a  black  frock-coat, 
tan  shoes,  and  the  invariable  dog-skin  gloves, 
and  over  his  arm  he  carried  a  plaid  shawl.  In 
short,  he  looked  like  what  he  was,  Scotland  Yard 
en  voyage. 

I  pointed  him  out  to  Brentin,  who  immediately 
jumped  up,  crossed  the  road,  and  greeted  him 
with  effusion.  Then  he  brought  him  over  and  in 
troduced  him  to  our  party,  among  whom,  luckily 
enough,  was  seated  Mr.  Van  Ginkel. 

Now  I  doirt  want  to  say  anything  uncivil  in 
print  about  a  gentleman  who  rendered  us  later  a 
service  so  undeniable,  and,  indeed,  priceless  ;  but 
I  cannot  help  observing  that  Van  Ginkel,  on  the 
whole,  was  one  of  the  dreariest  personalities  I 
ever  came  in  touch  with. 


137 


He  was  about  Brentin's  age,  fifty-four  or  so, 
but  he  appeared  years  older  ;  his  hair  and  beard 
were  almost  white,  and  his  face  was  so  lined,  the 
flesh  appeared  folded,  almost  like  linen.  He  had 
some  digestive  troubles  that  kept  him  to  a  milk 
diet,  and  he  would  sit  in  entire  silence  looking 
straight  ahead  of  him,  searching,  as  it  were,  for 
the  point  of  time  when  he  should  be  able  to  eat 
meat  once  more. 

Brentiii  had  boarded  the  Saratoga  early  that 
morning  on  its  return,  and  given  a  full  account 
of  our  scheme  and  its  difficulties.  Van  Gin- 
kel  had  listened  in  complete  silence ;  and  when 
Brentin  had  told  him  of  Bailey  Thompson,  and 
our  earnest  desire  to  get  him  out  of  the  way, 
ending  by  asking  him  to  be  so  friendly  as  to  take 
him  on  board  and  keep  him  there  till  we  had 
finished,  Van  Ginkel  had  just  remarked,  "Why, 
certainly  !"  and  relapsed  into  silence  again. 

"He  has  very  much  altered,"  Brentin  had 
whispered,  after  presenting  me  ;  when  Van  Gin 
kel  shook  me  by  the  hand,  said  "Mr.  Vincent 
Blacker/''  in  the  American  manner,  and  was 
further  entirely  dumb.  "  He  was  the  liveliest 
freshman  of  my  class  and  the  terror  of  the  Boston 
young  ladies,  especially  when  he  was  full.  As, 
of  course,  you  know  from  his  name,  he  is  one  of 
the  oldest  families  of  Noo  York  State." 

"Yes,"  I  replied,  "and  he  looks  it." 

Bailey  Thompson  sat  with  us  for  some  little 
time  outside  the  "Cafe  de  Paris,"  and  made 
himself  uncommonly  agreeable,  according  to  his 
Scotland  Yard  lights.  He  told  us,  the  hypocrite, 


138 


he  usually  came  to  Monte  Carlo  at  this  time  of 
the  year,  and  usually  stayed  at  the  "Monte 
Carlo  Hotel/'  just  where  the  road  begins  to  de 
scend  to  the  Condamine,  once  Madame  Blanc's 
villa. 

Where  were  we  ?  Oh  !  some  of  us  were  at  the 
"Monopole"  and  some  on  board  the  yacht. 
Really?  Why,  the  "Monopole"  was  the  hotel 
he  had  recommended  us,  wasn't  it  ?  He  hoped 
we  found  it  fairly  quiet  and  comfortable,  and 
not  too  dear,  did  the  arch-hypocrite  ! 

When  my  sister  rose  to  go  back  to  the  rooms 
and  look  after  Miss  Rybot,  Van  Ginkel  roused 
himself  to  ask  her  to  lunch  with  him  the  next 
day,  Friday,  on  board  the  Saratoga,  and  go  for 
a  sail  afterwards  to  Bordighera.  lie  managed 
the  affair  like  an  artist,  for  he  didn't  immedi 
ately  include  Bailey  Thompson  in  the  invitation, 
as  though  he  knew  too  little  of  him  just  for  the 
present.  It  was  not  till  later,  as  we  strolled  down 
to  the  Condamine — he,  Thompson,  Brentin,  and 
I — that  he  asked  us  to  come  on  board  the  yacht 
and  see  over  it,  and  not  till  finally  as  we  were 
leaving  that  (as  though  reminding  himself  he 
must  not  be  impolite)  he  begged  the  detective  to 
be  of  the  party,  if  he  had  no  other  engagement 
of  the  kind. 

Thompson — simple  soul  ! — was  enchanted  to 
accept,  and,  as  we  went  back  on  shore  in  the  boat, 
went  off  into  raptures  at  the  beauty  of  the  yacht 
and  the  politeness  of  the  owner  in  asking  him 
on  so  short  an  acquaintance. 

As  we  three  strolled  up  the  hill,  Brentin,  with 


the  most  natural  air  of  trust,  at  once  launched 
out  on  the  subject  of  our  plan. 

"Well,  here  we  are,  sir,  you  see,"  he  said; 
"everything  is  in  train.  We  approach  the 
hour." 

"Here  am  I,  too,"  smiled  the  cool  little  man. 
"I  told  you  I  should  most  likely  be  over." 

"  We  are  real  glad  to  see  you." 

"And  you  really  mean  it,  now  you're  on  the 
spot  and  can  measure  some  of  the  difficulties 
for  yourselves  ?" 

"  So  much  so  that  we  have  decided  for  Satur 
day  night,"  was  Brentin's  light  and  untruthful 
reply.  "  We  have  observed  the  rooms  are  at 
their  fullest  then." 

"Where  are  the  rest  of  your  party — the  other 
gentlemen  I  saw  at  '  The  French  Horn  ?' " 

"  Mr.  Hines  is  gambling,  having  unfortunate 
ly  developed  tastes  in  that  direction.  Mr.  Mas 
ters  is  in  attendance  on  a  lady  friend — 

"The  ladies  of  your  party  know  nothing  of 
your  intentions,  I  presume  ?"  said  Thompson. 

"  Nothing,  sir  ;  nothing.  For  them  it  is  a 
mere  party  of  pleasure  all  the  time.  Then  Mr. 
Forsyth  is  playing  that  fool-game,  tennis,  with 
his  late  colonel,  behind  the  "Hotel  do  Paris," 
and  Mr.  Parsons  is  somewhere  way  off  on  the 
Mentone  Road,  choking  himself  with  dust  on  ay 
loaned  bicycle." 

"That's  the  six  of  you.  But  now  you  have 
seen  everything,  do  you  really  think  six  will  be 
enough  ?" 

"Sir,"  said  Brentin,  "six  stalwarts  of  our  crew 


have  been  confided  in.  They  will  be  furnished 
with  linen  bags  to  collect  the  boodle,  directly  the 
tables  are  cleared  of  the  croupiers  and  gamblers 
by  us  ;  in  fact,  acting  on  your  kind  hint,  long 
shore  suits  have  been  provided  them  in  which 
they  have  already  rehearsed/' 

"  Not  in  the  rooms  ?" 

"  Sir,  they  were  there  mid-day  just  before  you 
came,  and  their  behavior  was  as  scroopulous  as 
the  late  Lord  Nelson's." 

"Was  there  any  difficulty  made  about  their 
cards  ?" 

"  Why,  none  whatever.  They  went  in  in  pairs, 
and  each  told  a  different  lie  :  one  pair  were  stay 
ing  at  the  'Metropole/  another  at  the  <de  Paris,' 
and  another  at  the  '  S.  James/  They  were  well 
coached  and  they  are  brainy  fellows.  They  were 
informed  they  must  behave  like  ornaments  of 
high-toned  society,  and  not  expectorate  on  the 
floor ;  and  they  paraded  in  couples,  ejaculating 
Haw,  demmy  !" 

"Really  !"  murmured  Bailey  Thompson,  "  these 
people  deserve  to  be  raided.  And  that  is  your 
yacht,  I  suppose,  lying  off  there — t\\s  Amaranth, 
isn't  it  ?" 

"That  is  the  Amaranth,  sir.  At  9.30  to-mor 
row — I  should  say  Saturday  ! — Saturday  night, 
she  will  have  orders  to  get  as  close  up  to  the 
shore  as  quickly  as  she  can.  If  you  will  step 
this  way,  sir,  down  on  to  the  terrace  here,  we  will 
have  pleasure  in  showing  you  the  spot  marked 
out  by  Nature  and  Providence  for  our  retreat." 

When  we  showed  him  the  board  with  defense 


141 


d' entree  au  public  on  it,  the  steps  leading  down 
on  to  the  railway  line,  the  broken  piece  of  em 
bankment,  so  few  feet  above  the  shore,  Bailey 
Thompson  gave  a  low  whistle. 

"  Lord  !  how  simple  it  is,"  he  murmured. 
"Now  you'd  think  people  would  take  better  caro 
than  that  of  property  of  such  enormous  value, 
wouldn't  you  ?" 

"  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Brentin,  with  magisterial  em 
phasis,  "in  the  simplicity  of  the  idea  lies  its 
grandeur.  It  is  significant  of  poor  human  nature 
to  make  difficulties  for  themselves  ;  they  neglect 
what  lies  at  their  feet,  ready  to  bo  carted  away 
for  the  trouble.  Everybody  has  heard  of  the 
man  who  stood  on  your  London  Bridge  offering 
sovereigns  for  a  penny  apiece,  and  doing  no  trade 
in  them  ;  while  we  all  know  the  Boer  children 
played  for  years  with  large  diamonds,  believing 
them  to  be  white  pebbles.  Sir,  it's  the  same 
thing  here  precisely,  and  that's  all  there  is  to  it." 

"I  need  hardly  say,  of  course,  that  here  there's  a 
good  deal  of  risk,"  said  Thompson.  "You  have 
naturally  all  of  you  thought  well  over  that  ?" 

"We  have  thought  well  over  everything.  If 
you  care  to  attend  the  rooms  on  Saturday — Satur 
day  night — at  about  ten,  you  will  see  for  your 
self  how  complete  in  every  respect  our  thought 
has  been.  And  you  will  be  amused,  I  fancy,  at 
the  little  scene  you  will  witness,  in  which  I  will 
undertake,  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  you  shall  be 
neither  hurt  nor  hustled,"  added  Mr.  Brentin, 
considerately. 

As  we  strolled  back  with  Thompson  to  his 


142 


hotel,  I  could,  having  some  sort  of  gift  that  way, 
see  quite  well  what  was  passing  in  his  mind. 

After  all,  he  said  to  himself,  he  was  an  Eng 
lish  detective  ;  why  should  he  interfere  to  pro 
tect  a  French  company  who  couldn't  look  after 
themselves  ?  "Why,  too,  should  he  spoil  gentle 
men's  sport  ?  They  didn't  want  the  money  for 
themselves  ;  they  wanted  it  (as  we  had  always 
been  careful  to  explain)  for  hospitals  and  good 
works  generally.  It  wasn't  as  if  we  were  vulgar 
cracksmen,  long  firm  swindlers,  gentry  he  had 
been  brought  up  to  struggle  with  and  defeat 
all  his  life.  Hang  it  all  !  we  were  gentlemen 
and  had  treated  him  well,  quite  as  one  of  our 
selves.  We  had  been  frank  and  above  -  board, 
and  had  told  him  everything  from  the  first. 

I  could  see  it  was  on  the  tip  of  his  tongue  to 
blurt  out :  "Mr.  Brentin  and  Mr.  Blacker  !  you 
have  been  quite  frank  with  me,  and,  at  any  cost, 
I  will  be  quite  frank  with  you.  I  am  a  detective 
from  Scotland  Yard,  and  unless  you  promise  me 
to  give  up  this  scheme  of  yours  —  which,  as 
Heaven  shall  judge  me,  will,  I  believe,  be  suc 
cessful  ! — it  will  be  my  unpleasant  duty  to  warn 
the  police  here  and  have  you  all  arrested." 

But  there  lay  the  difficulty,  eh  ?  We  could 
scarcely  be  arrested  for  an  idea,  without  overt 
act  of  any  kind.  Wouldn't  it  be  a  complete 
answer  if  we  declared  the  whole  thing  a  practi 
cal  joke,  and  turned  the  tables  by  laughing  at 
him  for  being  so  simple  as  to  believe  it  ?  No, 
if  we  were  to  be  successfully  caught,  we  must  be 
caught  in  the  act,  that  was  clear. 


143 


And  then  I  felt  the  detective  was  too  strong  in 
him :  the  desire  for  the  reward,  the  fame  of  such 
a  capture ;  his  professional  pride,  in  short,  bulked 
too  large  before  him  to  be  ignored. 

A'o  !  he  said  to  himself,  if  we  would  go  on 
with  it,  why  we  must  take  the  consequences. 
For  his  part,  he  would  go  to  the  Principality 
police,  arm  a  couple  of  dozen  of  them,  and  have 
them  ready  in  the  rooms.  It  would  be  a  simple 
matter,  for  hadn't  we  always  told  him  our  re 
volvers  Avould  not  be  loaded  ? 

When,  after  a  long  silence,  he  ended  by  shrug 
ging  his  shoulders,  I  was  as  well  aware  of  his  re 
solve  as  though  he  had  spoken  it  out  loud. 

We  left  him  at  the  door  of  his  hotel,  under 
taking  to  meet  him  in  the  rooms  at  nine  and 
show  him  every  detail  of  our  plan,  so  that  we 
might  have  the  benefit  of  his  final  advice  on  any 
possible  weak  points. 

"There  is,  of  course,  the  chance,"  I  observed 
to  Brentin,  "  of  his  going  off  at  once  to  the  police, 
and  getting  them  to  be  present  on  Friday  night 
as  well,  ex  majori  cauteld." 

"Oh,  he  won't  do  that !  We've  told  him  no 
lies  at  present." 

"None  at  any  rate  that  he  has  discovered." 

"  The  same  thing  ! — and  if  we  say  Saturday,  he 
probably  believes  we  mean  it.  He  won't  go  to  the 
police  till  the  very  last  moment;  he  wouldn't  go 
then  if  only  there  were  any  way  of  managing  the 
business  by  himself." 

"And  our  ultimate  arrest,  now  that  he  knows 
us  all  ?" 


144 


"  Why,  sir,  that  will  be  the  affair  of  the  au 
thorities  here  ;  that  is,  of  course,  the  chief  risk 
we  have  now  to  run.  My  own  notion,  however, 
always  has  been  that,  if  only  for  fear  of  advertis 
ing  our  success  too  widely,  and  suggesting  the 
scheme  to  others,  the  Casino  Company  will  put 
up  with  their  loss,  just  as  though  we  had  legiti 
mately  won  the  boodle  at  play." 

"  Let  us  hope  so  !"  I  said,  and  parted  from 
him  with  a  warm  grasp  of  the  hand. 

Then  I  went  down  to  the  Condamine,  and 
signalled  for  the  Amaranth  boat.  We  had  left 
Lucy  on  board  all  day,  for  fear  of  her  running 
up  against  Bailey  Thompson  on  shore,  and  so 
arousing  his  suspicions  by  her  presence.  As  for 
old  C rage's  finding  means  to  let  him  know  what, 
in  a  fit  of  temper,  he  had  blurted  out,  that  I 
didn't  think  altogether  likely  ;  in  the  first  place, 
he  would  probably  be  afraid  ;  and  in  the  second, 
he  would  believe  Lucy  had  by  this  time  warned 
us  and  the  whole  affair  was  off.  So  I  spent  a 
very  happy  hour  with  dear  Lucy  on  board,  find 
ing  her  sewing  in  a  very  bewitching  tea-gown  of 
my  sister's,  and,  going  back  to  the  hotel,  discov 
ered  Teddy  outside  in  a  considerable  state  of 
alarm  and  excitement.  He  had  just  seen  Thomp 
son  leaving  the  hotel,  parting  from  Mrs.  Wing- 
ham  at  the  door. 

"  Oh,  Vincent !"  he  cried,  "it's  not  too  late; 
we'd  better  hook  it,  we  had  really  !" — and  other 
terrified  absurdities  —  the  fact  being,  no  doubt, 
that  Thompson  had  merely  come  up  to  see  the 
old  lady  and  find  out  from  her  whether  she 


145 


knew  if  Saturday  really  was  the  day,  or  if  we 
Avere  by  any  chance  trying  to  put  him  off  the 
scent. 

I  calmed  Teddy  with  the  assurance  all  was 
going  on  perfectly  well,  and  that  he  had  only  to 
keep  calm  to  do  himself  and  his  militia  training 
full  justice. 

"  Hang  it  all!"  I  said  to  him,  "you  are  as 
nearly  as  possible  a  British  officer  ;  do,  for  good 
ness'  sake,  try  and  behave  like  one." 

But  he  never  did,  from  first  to  last ;  and  for 
that,  painful  as  it  is,  I  feel  myself  obliged  pub 
licly  to  censure  him  here,  in  print. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

EXIT    MR.  BAILEY    THOMPSON 

FRIDAY  dawned,  blue  and  auspicious,  and 
soon  after  twelve  Brentin  and  I  called  at  his 
hotel  to  conduct  the  luckless  Thompson  on  board 
the  Saratoga.  We  had  matured  our  little  plan, 
and  as  we  went  clown  the  hill  to  the  Condamine 
we  began  to  put  it  in  motion. 

In  this  wise.  Brentin  suddenly  pulled  up 
short,  saying  :  "  Sakes  alive  !  I  have  forgotten 
to  telegraph  to  the  hotel  at  Venice  to  secure 
our  rooms.  Mr.  Blacker,  will  you  conduct  our 
friend  to  the  boat,  and  I  will  join  you  ?" 

I  went  on  with  Thompson  to  the  boat  lying 
ready  for  us,  and  there  we  waited.  Then  at  the 
top  of  the  hill  appeared  Brentin,  as  per  arrange 
ment,  outside  the  telegraph  office,  making  weird 
signals  with  his  arms. 

"  What  on  earth  is  he  doing?"  I  innocently 
asked. 

"He  apparently  wants  you,"  replied  the  un 
suspicious  Thompson  ;  "perhaps  he  has  forgotten 
the  name  of  the  hotel." 

"'Oh,  Lord  !"  I  ejaculated,  "and  I  shall  have 
to  go  all  the  way  back  up  that  horrible  hill. 
Don't  you  wait  for  me,  please.  If  you  don't 


147 


mind  just  going  on  board  and  sending  the  boat 
back,  we  shall  be  ready,  and  by  that  time  Par 
sons  and  Hines  will  have  joined  us.  We  are  a 
little  too  early  as  it  is." 

"  The  others  come  from  the  Amaranth,  I  pre 
sume  ?" 

"  Yes  ;  there's  the  boat " — for  we  had  arranged 
they  should  at  any  rate  start,  and  not  turn  back 
till  they  had  seen  the  detective  decoyed  below 
deck  on  board  the  Saratoga. 

" Au  revoir !"  I  cried,  and  without  turning, 
up  the  hill  I  hastened,  only  too  delighted  and 
relieved  to  hear  the  boat  put  off  and  the  soft 
plash  of  the  oars  behind  me. 

I  never  turned  till  I  got  to  the  telegraph  office, 
and  then  Brentin  and  I  stood  there  and  watched 
with  breathless  interest.  Brentin  had  glasses 
with  him,  and  at  once  turned  them  on  the  Sara 
toga. 

"Van  Ginkel  receives  him,"  he  chuckled, 
"with  stately,  old-fashioned  courtesy.  Thomp 
son  explains  how»it  is  he  is  alone,  and  that  the 
boat  is  to  go  back  for  us.  Van  Ginkel  insists  011 
taking  his  plaid  shawl,  and  entreats  him  to  come 
below  out  of  the  sun.  He  leads  the  way,  and  they 
go  to  the  head  of  the  saloon  companion-ladder, 
engaged  in  affable  conversation  and  friendly  ri 
valry  for  the  shawl.  They  disappear.  Bravo  ! 
The  Amaranth  boat  turns  back.  The  Saratoga 
men  rapidly  haul  their  own  boat  on  board.  The 
anchor  is  apparently  already  weighed.  Animated 
figures  cross  and  recross  the  deck.  Orders  are 
rapidly  given — she?s  off !  By  Heaven,  sir,  she's  off !" 


148 


A  long  pause,  while  the  shapely  Saratoga  be 
gins  to  leave  the  harbor  and  head  for  the  open 
sea.  She  crosses  the  bows  of  the  Amaranth, 
Avherethe  rest  of  our  compan}7  are  standing,  with 
Captain  Evans  and  his  crew,  waiting  and  watch 
ing. 

"Ah,  ha !" roared  Brentin,  suddenly.  "  Thomp 
son's  head  reappears,  without  his  hat.  He  looks 
round  him,  scared.  He  hurries  to  the  captain, 
who  is  walking  the  bridge,  his  hands  behind  him, 
his  eye  watchful.  He  speaks  to  the  captain. 
He  shouts,  he  beats  the  bridge,  he  foams  at  the 
mouth.  The  captain  pays  him  no  heed—no  heed, 
sir,  whatever.  He  even  casually  steps  on  his 
fingers.  Ha  !  he  rushes  to  the  man  at  the  wheel, 
He  gesticulates,  he  yells,  he  attempts  to  seize 
the  wheel.  Steady,  Scotland  Yard  !  You  should 
know  better  than  that.  Bravo  !  The  man  at 
the  wheel  kicks  a  long  leg  out  at  him  and  shouts 
to  the  captain.  The  captain  gives  sharp,  decisive 
orders.  Bravo  !  Well  done  !  Bailey  Thompson 
is  seized  by  a  couple  of  Long  Tom  Coffins  and 
hurried  away.  They  hurry  him,  struggling  viot 
lently,  to  the  head  of  the  companion-ladder. 
Down  with  him,  gentlemen  !  Down  with  him, 
among  the  dead  men  !  Bravo  !" 

Bailey  Thompson's  struggle  and  discomfiture 
were  watched  by  our  friends  on  the  Amaranth 
with  interest  at  least  as  keen  as  ours.  As  the 
Saratoga  fell  away  across  their  bows,  and  Thomp 
son  disappeared  down  the  companion-ladder, 
Captain  Evans  takes  off  his  cap  and  leads  his 
brave  fellows  to  a  cheer.  They  cheer  vocifer- 


149 


ously  and  derisively,  the  ladies  wave  their  hand 
kerchiefs. 

"Exit  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson  !"  cried  Brentin, 
and  taking  off  his  hat  he  gave  a  loud  "Hurray  !" 
much  to  the  astonishment  of  the  man  outside 
the  telegraph  office,,  who  stands  there  with  a 
tray  of  colored  pince-nez  for  sale,  as  a  protection 
against  the  Monte  Carlo  glare  of  white  roads 
and  blue  sparkling  sea. 

Just  then  up  came  Parsons  and  Hines. 

"Well,  is  it  all  right  ?  Has  he  gone  ?  Have 
they  got  him  ?" 

"Look  for  yourselves,  gentlemen  !"  he  cried, 
handing  them  the  glass.  "  Search  earth  and  sky 
for  vestiges  of  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  of  Scot 
land  Yard  and  Brixton.  You  will  not  find  him. 
He  has  passed  out  of  our  ken.  He's  on  his  way 
to  Majorca,  Minorca,  Ivaca,  and  the  Balearic  Isles 
generally.  For  purposes  of  any  active  mischief 
he  is  as  dead  and  harmless  as  the  dodo." 

"  For  the  present — only  for  the  present !"  mut 
tered  Teddy,  who  was  in  his  usual  pallid  condi 
tion. 

"And  now,"  said  Brentin,  with  satisfaction, 
putting  away  his  glasses,  "rebellion  being  dead, 
let  us  go  back  to  the  '  Monopole/  enjoy  our 
breakfast,  and  pay  our  'bill.  Then  we  pack  up 
and  get  our  things  on  board  the  yacht.  Fortune 
smiles  on  us,  gentlemen,"  he  added,  "as  ever  on 
the  bold.  Nothing,  so  far,  could  be  better  !" 

From  the  terrace  of  the  "Monopole"  we  took  a 
last  look  over  the  sea  before  going  in  to  breakfast. 
There  was  the  Saratoga,  rapidly  growing  diminu- 


150 


tive  as  she  bustled  far  away  out  to  sea  to  the 
right.  Exit  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  indeed  ! 

Mrs.  Wingham's  place,  between  Mrs.  Sellars 
and  Miss  Marter,  was  empty.  They  told  Teddy 
the  old  lady  had  breakfasted  early,  and  was  down 
at  the  rooms  for  a  long  afternoon's  play. 

And  Mr.  Parsons  Avas  leaving  ?  How  sorry 
they  were  —  how  much  they  would  miss  him  ! 
Certainly  they  would  say  good-bye  to  Mrs.  Wing- 
ham  for  him.  Oh,  we  were  all  going  to  Bordi- 
ghera  in  a  friend's  yacht,  and  should  most  prob 
ably  not  return.  Well,  good-bye.  Bon  voyage! 

"Now  she'll  think,"  said  the  sagacious  Teddy, 
as  he  joined  us,  "  the  whole  affair's  off,  not 
withstanding  my  telling  her  it  was  fixed  for 
Saturday.  She'll  fancy  we've  got  frightened,  or 
been  warned,  and  have  bolted.  Good  business  !" 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  GREAT  NIGHT — DINNER  AT  THE  "HOTEL  DE  PARIS" — 
A  LAST  LOOK  ROUND — THE  SACK  AND  ITS  INCIDENTS — 
FLIGHT 

BY  five  o'clock  of  that  same  afternoon — Fri 
day,  January  17th — we  and  our  luggage  were  all 
safe  on  board  the  Amaranth. 

Our  luggage  stowed  away  and  our  cabin  ar 
rangements  made  (rather  a  tight  fit  we  found  it), 
I  took  Lncy  on  shore  to  show  her  round,  or  give 
her  a  walk  rather,  as  it  was  nearly  dark  ;  for 
now  that  Bailey  Thompson  was  well  out  at  sea, 
there  was  no  danger  of  her  being  met  and  recog 
nized.  For  the  night,  our  plan  of  action  briefly 
was,  that  at  a  quarter  to  eight  wo  were  all  to 
dine  together  at  the  "Hotel  de  Paris/'  the  ladies 
afterwards  to  return  on  board  the  yacht.  At 
ten  we  gentlemen,  Avith  the  six  sailors,  were  to 
be  in  the  rooms  ;  at  half-past,  precisely,  the  start 
was  to  be  made. 

At  ten-twenty  the  boats,  two  of  them,  were  to 
leave  the  yacht  and  be  ready  at  the  spot  I  have 
indicated.  They  were  not  to  start  a  minute 
earlier,  for  fear  of  exciting  suspicions  among  any 
of  the  firemen  or  police  who  might  be  about  on 
the  terrace.  For  them,  on  Brentin's  suggestion, 


152 


we  had  arranged  a  small  pyrotechnic  display — 
what  he  called  " fire-crackers" — on  the  terrace 
not  far  from  the  band-stand.  Parsons  had  pur 
chased  a  "Devil  among  the  Tailors  "  over  at  Men- 
tone,  and  Jarvis,  one  of  the  sailors — the  same,  by- 
the-way,  who  had  first  accosted  us  on  the  pier 
at  Hyde — was  to  light  it  one  minute  before  the 
half-hour.  We  calculated  it  would  explode  and 
draw  the  firemen  away,  just  about  the  time  when 
they  would  otherwise  be  in  demand  to  stop  us  in 
our  rush  down  the  terrace  steps,  and  through 
the  rickety  gate  on  to  the  railway  line. 

Our  dinner  at  the  "Hotel  de  Paris"  was  a  very 
expensive  and  merry  one.  It  was  lucky,  by-the- 
way,  as  it  turned  out,  that  I  ate  and  drank  a 
good  deal  more  than  usual,  for  it  was  almost 
four-and-twenty  hours  before  I  got  anything  ap 
proaching  a  proper  meal  again  ;  through  that 
idiot  Teddy  Parsons'  fault,  as  presently  will 
plainly  enough  appear. 

Soon  after  half-past  nine  we  sent  the  ladies  off 
in  a  carriage  down  to  the  Condamine  to  go  on 
board  the  yacht.  It  was  a  solemn  moment,  for 
it  was  quite  on  the  cards  I  might  never  see  any 
of  them  again,  and  one  was  my  sweetheart  and 
one  my  sister.  Indeed,  so  affected  was  I,  that  I 
bent  into  the  carriage  and  kissed  Miss  Kybot 
by  mistake,  which  made  everybody  but  Arthur 
Masters  laugh.  I  knew  I  had  made  the  mistake 
directly  my  lips  touched  her  cheek,  for  hers  was 
hard  and  cold  as  an  apple  off  wet  grass,  whereas 
dear  Lucy's  was  ever  soft  and  warm  as  a  sunny 
peach. 


153 


Then  they  drove  away,  laughing  and  kissing 
their  hands  ;  Lucy  particularly  merry,  for  she 
still  knew  nothing  of  what  we  were  almost  im 
mediately  going  to  do,  and  was  quite  gay  at  the 
thought  of  leaving  Monte  Carlo  so  soon  —  to 
which  unhallowed  spot,  as  most  good  and  sensi 
tive  women,  she  had  taken  the  supremest  dislike. 

We  gentlemen  sat  a  little  time  smoking,  in 
somewhat  perturbed  silence,  and  just  before  ten 
we  had  a  glass  of  old  brandy  each,  paid  our  bill, 
and  left.  The  others  went  on  into  the  rooms, 
while  Brentin  and  I  walked  down  on  to  the  ter 
race  to  have  a  last  look  at  the  gate,  and  see  it 
was  still  open  ;  or,  rather,  would  open  to  a  slight 
push. 

The  night  was  singularly  mild,  dark,  and  heavy; 
the  terrace  absolutely  deserted.  There  was  not 
a  star  in  the  dense,  low  sky;  they  all  seemed 
fallen  on  shore,  outlining  the  Condamine  and 
heights  of  Monaco  in  the  many  regular  pin-pricks 
of  the  gas-lamps.  From  the  "Cafe  de  Paris" 
came  the  swirl  of  the  Hungarian  band  ;  from  the 
Casino  concert-room,  the  high  notes  of  Madame 
Eames  singing  in  the  new  opera ;  from  the  Conda 
mine,  the  jingle  of  the  omnibus  bells.  Not  an 
other  sound  of  life  from  earth  or  heaven  ;  but 
mainly  the  persistent  jangle  of  those  omnibus 
bells,  as  though  sadly  shaken  by  some  dyspeptic 
Folly.  The  Mediterranean,  as  ever,  was  abso 
lutely  still. 

I  could  have  stayed  there  a  long  time,  but — 

"  Come  !"  whispered  Brentin,  and  taking  my 
arm,  walked  me  back  up  the  steps  towards  the 


154 


rooms.  As  we  passed  the  end  of  the  concert- 
room,  I  noticed  that  up  against  the  outside  bal 
conies,  at  the  back  of  the  stage,  ladders  were 
reared,  so  that,  in  case  of  fire,  the  artistes 
might  have  some  other  chance  of  escape  than 
the  dubious  one  of  fighting  their  way  through 
the  salle.  I  found  myself  fitfully  wondering 
whether  those  ladders  would  be  used. 

"  Come  !"  whispered  Brentin,  again,  feeling,  I 
dare  say,  the  alarm  in  my  elbow.  "  Courage  \" 

For  I  do  not  mind  confessing  here  in  print 
that,  as  the  hour  approached,  I  began  to  feel 
frightened  at  the  audacity  of  what  we  were  going 
to  do,  and,  if  only  I  could  —  consistently  with 
my  honor  —  would  willingly  have  withdrawn  ; 
nay,  to  put  it  plainly,  turned  tail  and  bolted. 
My  revolver,  loaded  with  blank  cartridge  only,  in 
the  pocket  of  my  smoking-jacket  beat  remind- 
fully  against  my  hip  as  I  walked  up  the  Casino 
steps.  Even  now  as  I  write,  months  after  the  oc 
currence,  the  tremor  of  that  hour  seizes  me  and 
my  hand  shakes  so  I  can  scarcely  guide  the  pen. 

Another  moment,  and  we  had  walked  through 
the  hall,  and  passed  the  swing-doors  into  the 
stifling  gambling-rooms. 

It  is  extremely  unlikely  I  ever  visit  Monte 
Carlo  again  ;  indeed,  my  conduct,  on  this  the 
last  occasion  I  entered  the  rooms,  rather  pre 
cludes  me  from  ever  even  making  the  attempt ; 
but  if  ever  I  do,  they  will  never  make  the  same 
impression  on  me  as  they  did  that  warm  January 
evening  when  Brentin  and  I  strolled  into  them 
arm  in  arm. 


155 


Every  incident  of  that  memorable  evening, 
every  face  I  then  saw,  is  photographed  into  my 
memory,  still  remains  there  distinct  and  indeli 
ble.  The  rooms,  either  because  of  the  attrac 
tion  of  a  new  opera  or  because  the  night  was  so 
warm,  were  somewhat  empty.  The  crowds  were 
only  round  the  table,  and  the  parquet  flooring 
between  looked  more  than  usually  vacant  and 
dull. 

Dimmer  they  looked,  too,  and  more  than  ever 
badly  lit;  and  the  air  seemed  even  heavier 
charged  with  gamblers'  exasperation. 

Now,  in  some  slight  particulars,  we  had  modi 
fied  our  original  plan.  We  had  long  given  over 
all  attempt  to  turn  the  light  out,  for  one  thing, 
since  we  had  never  been  able  to  discover  where 
the  mains  were  ;  probably  somewhere  well  out 
of  sight,  down  below  among  the  vaults,  which 
also  we  had  decided  not  to  attempt.  Nor  did  we 
intend  to  do  anything  towards  securing  the  gam 
blers'  valuables,  as  at  one  time  we  had  projected. 
It  was  very  like  vulgar  robber}',  to  begin  with, 
and  next,  as  Thompson  had  pointed  out,  it  would 
take  too  much  time. 

Directly  we  got  inside,  Brentin  looked  up  at 
the  clock  over  the  door  and  set  his  watch  by  it ; 
then  we  strolled  off  to  find  the  rest,  and,  show 
ing  each  of  them  the  watch,  saw  that  each  had 
the  precise  time.  Our  six  sailors  were  wandering 
about  genteelly  in  pairs;  to  each  Brentin  whis 
pered,  "Got  your  bag  all  right?"  and  each 
nodded  a  reply.  Each  had  a  linen  bag  buttoned 
inside  his  short,  respectable  reefer  jacket.  One 


156 


who,  I  fear,  was  not  quite  sober,  a  man  named 
Barker,  took  his  bag  out  with  a  stupid  laugh 
to  show  us  ;  whereupon  his  companion  (Frank 
Joyce,  from  Sandown,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  who 
had  him  by  the  arm)  said,  "Now  then,  Barker, 
don't  be  a  fool,  it  ain't  time  yet." 

It  was  then  between  the  ten  minutes  and  the 
quarter  past  ten. 

When  we  had  visited  the  rooms  with  Bailey 
Thompson  the  night  before,  and  explained  our 
plan  in  detail  on  the  spot,  we  had,  by  his  advice, 
and  very  wisely,  reversed  it.  Previously,  we  had 
designed  to  begin  at  the  first,  the  roulette  tables, 
and  drive  the  people  gradually  before  us  into  the 
last  room,  towards  the  trente-et-quarante;  but 
that,  as  he  pointed  out,  would  force  us  to  work 
with  our  backs  to  the  exit  and  bring  us  between 
two  fires  as  it  were  ;  whereas,  if  we  began  in  the 
farthest  rooms  and  cleared  the  trente-et-quarante 
tables  first,  we  should  have  our  faces  to  the 
doors,  and,  by  driving  everybody  before  us,  secure 
the  further  advantage  of  increasing  the  confu 
sion  that  would  arise  from  the  people  rushing  in 
to  see  what  was  wrong  and  meeting  the  people 
rushing  out.  And  through  that  surging,  terri 
fied  mass  we  ought  to  have  no  difficulty  in  forc 
ing  a  passage,  if  only  we  kept  our  unloaded 
revolvers  up  to  the  mark  and  frowned  unflinch 
ingly. 

As  for  masking  ourselves,  which  we  had  also 
at  first  designed,  Thompson  was  strongly  against 
it ;  it  would  all  take  time,  and  might  only  ob 
scure  our  vision  ;  for,  as  he  truly  pointed  out, 


157 


that  sort  of  thing  scarcely  ever  fits  properly.  .  .  . 
I  gave  a  nervous  glance  at  my  watch,  and  found 
it  nearly  ten-twenty. 

I  was  standing  just  by  the  last  roulette  table, 
and  saw  one  or  two  little  things  that,  as  I  have 
said,  are  still  distinctly  photographed  in  my 
memory.  There  were  two  young  men  standing 
behind  me, and  one  said,  "I'll  just  chuck  a  louis 
on  the  table  and  see  where  it  will  fall."  It  fell 
on  the  number  eighteen,  and  eighteen  actually 
turned  up  !  He  laughed  excitedly  as  the  croupier 
pushed  him  thirty-five  times  his  stake.  "  That's 
not  bad  for  my  one  gentle  little  louis,  eh  ?"  he 
giggled. 

Opposite,  a  brown -faced  English  yachtsman, 
over  from  Men  tone,  was  steadily  backing  the 
colors  with  notes  of  five  hundred  francs.  He 
was  always  right ;  he  changed  from  side  to  side, 
and  always  hit  the  right  red  or  black.  He  was 
watched  by  two  common  Englishmen,  with  long 
upper  lips  and  ridiculous  pantaloon  beards, 
dressed  in  shiny  broadcloth.  "That  feller's  won 
another  twenty  pound,"  said  one  of  them,  gap 
ing.  "We  must  bring  Louisa  in  to  see  this." 

Now  it  was  past  the  ten-twenty,  and  I  moved 
off  into  the  trente-et-quarante  rooms. 

Every  one  who  has  been  to  Monte  Carlo  knows 
that  the  four  trente-et-quarante  tables  are  in  the 
two  end  rooms,  two  in  each. 

In  the  right-hand  room  were  to  be  stationed 
Brentin,  Parsons,  and  I,  with  three  of  the  sail 
ors  ;  in  the  left,  Forsyth,  Masters,  and  Ilines, 
with  the  other  three.  Brentin  was  to  give  the 


153 


signal  in  our  room — "  Levez  Ics  mains!" — and 
Hines  in  the  other,  while  the  immediate  discharge 
of  the  "  Devil  among  the  Tailors"  outside  on  the 
terrace  would,  we  hoped,  increase  the  confusion 
and  alarm  within.  It  was  rather  awkward  that 
we  were  forced  to  go  to  work  a  little  out  of  sight 
of  each  other  ;  for,  though  there  is  an  opening 
between  the  rooms,  we  meant  to  begin  well  at 
the  back,  and  the  opening  did  not  so  far  reach 
as  to  bring  us  in  sight  of  each  other. 

It  was  close  on  the  twenty-five  minutes  past 
ten,  and  so  alarmed  was  I  at  the  difficulties 
which,  now  we  were  actually  on  the  spot  ready 
to  overcome  them,  loomed  so  desperately  large, 
that  I  would  willingly  have  sacrificed  half  my  in 
come  to  be  allowed  to  leave  without  even  making 
the  attempt. 

On  one  side  of  me  was  Brentin  ;  on  the  oth 
er  a  very  pretty,  smart  young  Englishwoman, 
standing  with  a  purse  in  her  hand,  watching  the 
run  on  black.  As  in  a  dream,  I  noticed  all  the 
details  of  her  dress,  the  white  facings  of  her 
dark  jacket  on  the  cuffs  and  pockets,  the  piquant 
spots  on  her  veil.  Quietly,  as  though  she  were 
paying  for  a  pair  of  gloves,  she  staked  all  the 
gold  she  had  left,  about  twenty  pounds,  and  lost 
that.  She  searched  her  purse,  found  it  quite 
empty,  snapped  it  leisurely,  and  sauntered  away. 
Brentin  whispered  me  he  had  seen  her  stake  roll 
after  roll  of  notes,  and  lose  them  all.  Beau 
tifully  dressed,  with  a  hanging,  jewelled  little 
watch  and  many  neat  gold  bracelets,  I  had  often 
seen  her  strolling  about  the  gardens,  neither 


159 


speaking  to  nor  looking  at  any  one  ;  now  I  found 
myself  stupidly  wondering  who  she  was,  even  en 
vying  her,  notwithstanding  her  totally  cleaned- 
out  condition. 

The  relentless  minutes  stole  on.  I  looked 
piteously  at  Brentin,  glaring  with  resolution 
straight  in  front  of  him,  his  hand  in  his  pocket 
fingering  his  revolver ;  at  Parsons,  white  as  this 
paper,  his  legs  bending  under  him. 

Piteously  I  looked  at  the  table  in  front  of  me ; 
at  the  croupiers,  with  their  cropped  black  heads 
and  emotionless  faces  ;  at  the  chef  sitting  above 
them,  his  bored,  round  back  towards  me  ;  at  the 
delicately  pretty,  demure  Italian,  olive-skinned 
and  colorless,  leaning  her  arm,  in  its  long  white 
glove,  over  the  back  of  his  chair  ;  at  the  young 
Frenchman  staking  his  thousand -franc  notes, 
his  forehead  and  eyes  twitching  Avith  excitement, 
or  some  nervous  complaint ;  at  the  gaunt  Eng 
lish  girl — 

Hang !  from  the  terrace  outside.  Bang ! 
bany ! 

I  gave  a  jump  like  a  terrified  horse.  It  was 
the  "Devil  among  the  Tailors,"  set  off  a  minute 
or  two  too  soon  by  our  friend  and  accomplice, 
the  sailor. 

The  confusion  and  alarm  it  caused  was  noth 
ing  compared  to  what  followed.  I  had  just  time 
to  see  the  Italian  lady's  frightened  profile,  as  she 
turned  and  put  her  white  glovo  up  to  her  smooth 
cheek,  when  the  bold  Brentin  gave  a  hoarse 
shout — "  Levez  les  mains!" — and  produced  the 
revolver.  Then,  indeed,  a  panic  set  in  !  compa- 


1GO 


rable,  I  imagine,  to  nothing  but  the  sudden  strik 
ing  of  a  ship. 

At  first  a  dead  pause,  and  then  immediately  a 
rushing  to  and  fro,  as  of  rats  in  a  pit,  the  hag 
gard  looking  in  each  other's  fallen,  discomposed 
faces.  And  then  the  noise  !  the  overthrow  of 
chairs  and  the  dragging  of  them  along  the  par 
quet  floor,  caught  in  screaming  women's  dresses 
as  they  scudded  away  like  sea-shore  birds,  bent 
low,  with  their  hands  up  to  their  ears,  while  the 
shouting,  swearing,  groaning  men  clutched  at 
their  money,  and  tried  to  thrust  it  in  their 
pockets,  as  they  leaped  and  huddled  themselves 
away,  the  louis  falling  and  tinkling  on  the  floor. 

I  saw  before  me  a  hideous,  moving  frieze  of 
terror,  of  distorted  faces — Russian,  French,  Ger 
man,  Italian,  English,  American,  Greek — all  re 
duced  to  the  same  monotony  of  look  under  the 
overmastering  influence  of  the  same  passion — 
abject  fear.  The  English  were  no  better  than 
the  rest ;  they  were  a  little  quicker  in  getting 
away,  perhaps,  and  that  was  all.  The  confusion 
of  tongues  was  as  complete  as  though,  011  the 
Tower  of  Babel,  some  one  had  screamed  the 
foundations  were  giving  way,  and  all  must  save 
themselves  as  best  they  could. 

As  in  a  battle  the  soldier  knows  only  inci 
dents,  the  faces  he  sees  as  frightened  or  deter 
mined  as  his  own,  the  eyes  peering  into  his 
through  smoke  he  mostly  himself  seems  to  make  ; 
so,  out  of  this  action — so  famous  and  yet  so  little 
known — can  I  only  report  the  events  that  met 
me  in  my  narrow  section  of  the  struggle,  a  sec- 


101 


tion  drawn  almost  in  parallel  straight  lines  from 
the  point  I  started  at  to  the  point  of  exit  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  rooms. 

First  it  was  the  chef,  on  his  high  chair  facing 
me,  who  fell  over  backwards,  ridiculous  enough 
at  such  a  time  of  tragic  import.  One  of  the 
croupiers,  in  jumping  horrified  to  his  feet,  gave 
him  a  tilt  and  over  he  went.  He  was  a  youngish 
man,  with  round,  fat,  clean-shaven  cheeks,  and  a 
small,  bristling,  black  mustache.  His  arms  and 
legs  waved  and  kicked  like  an  impaled  insect ; 
his  mouth  opened  with  a  stupendous  screaming 
oath,  and  as  he  fell  —  strange  how  at  all  times 
one  notices  details! — I  saw  he  wore  half -shoes 
and  blue  socks. 

In  another  minute  we  were  at  the  vacant  table, 
the  chef  crawling  away  under  a  sofa-seat  against 
the  wall,  and  two  of  our  gallant  sailors  were 
stuffing  the  notes  and  coins  into  their  linen  bags. 
The  second  table  was  equally  deserted,  and  there 
the  not-quite-sober  sailor,  Barker,  with  empty, 
delighted  laughter,  was  already  scratching  the 
notes  out  of  the  metal  stand  they  are  always  kept 
in.  Suddenly  I  saw  he  nearly  fell ;  some  one 
under  the  table  had  him  by  the  leg.  He  clutched 
the  chef's  empty  high  chair,  and,  with  a  mighty 
oath  and  mighty  random  kick,  released  himself. 

"Hurry  up,  men  !  hurry  up  !"  chanted  Bren- 
tin,  as  we  moved  forward  irresistibly  over  the 
bare  floor. 

Bang!  suddenly  went  Teddy's  revolver  off, 
in  his  nervousness,  close  to  my  ear.  It  was  a 

mistake,  but  not  altogether  a  disastrous  one  ;  it 
11 


162 


showed  we  were  in  earnest,  nnd  soon  cleared 
some  of  the  people  away  from  the  space  between 
the  roulette  rooms  and  the  trente-et-quarante, 
Like  a  wave  that  breaks  against  the  shore  and 
then  returns,  so  these  broken  people,  spent 
against  the  struggling  mass  round  the  swing- 
doors,  had. gushed  back  again  and  almost  reached 
the  point  they  started  from. 

From  the  room  on  the  left,  where  Hines  and 
his  party  were  at  work,  I  suddenly  heard  Arthur 
Masters  shout,  "Look  out,  Forsyth  !"  At  what, 
I  know  not ;  I  just  gave  a  look  in  their  direction, 
and  their  room  seemed  as  vacant  of  opposition  as 
ours. 

"Forward!"  cried  Brentin.  "Hurry  up! 
hurry  up  \" 

The  sailors,  with  their  bags,  fell  behind  us, 
and  forward  we  three  charged.  As  Ave  came 
through  the  sort  of  ante-chamber  dividing  the 
rooms,  there,  through  the  other  door,  at  the 
same  moment,  came  Hines,  Forsyth,  and  Masters, 
hurrying. 

"Bravo  I" screamed  to  them  the  excited  Bren 
tin.  "  The  left-hand  table,  gentlemen  !" 

Eight  and  left  the  tables  were  absolutely  de 
serted.  As  the  sailors  pounced  on  and  proceeded 
to  clear  them,  I  had  an  unobstructed  view  down 
the  length  of  the  remaining  rooms  right  to  the 
exit. 

Such  a  scene  of  terrified,  shouting,  screaming 
confusion  I  never  saw ;  nor  ever  shall,  unless  my 
lurid  evil  star  should  one  day  carry  me  into  the 
hot  heart  of  a  theatre-panic,  the  uncontrollable 


163 


frenzied  meeting  of  a  fighting  pit,  gallery,  dress 
circle,  and  stalls.  They  say  a  man  will  give  all  he 
hath  for  his  life,  and  here  were  innumerable  men 
and  women,  believing  their  precious  lives  in  peril, 
giving  all  their  fiery  energies  play  in  their  efforts 
to  best  their  neighbor  and  reach  the  door.  Often, 
by-the-way,  as  I  have  heard  of  people  wringing 
their  hands,  this  was  the  only  occasion  on  which 
I  ever  really  saw  it  clone.  One  of  the  footmen, 
in  his  absurd,  ill-fitting  livery,  was  standing  on 
one  of  the  side  sofas,  a  chap  with  laughable  long 
whiskers,  a  discolored  beak  of  a  nose,  and  a  rabbit 
mouth ;  there  he  stood,  dancing  up  and  down, 
his  face  all  puckered  with  terror,  actually  wring 
ing  his  hands  in  his  misfitting  long  sleeves. 
Then  he  suddenly  fell  over  and  crawled  away, 
yelping  like  a  frightened  lap-dog,  and  for  the 
life  of  me  I  couldn't  help  a  spirit  of  laugh 
ter. 

"  Gracious  !"  yelled  Brentin,  above  the  inde 
scribable  din,  "'I  hope  no  one  will  be  injured. 
Loose  off  your  gun,  friend  Parsons." 

Bang!  went  Teddy's  revolver.  I  looked  at 
him  ;  his  face  was  still  dead  white,  while  his 
mouth  was  working  and  distorted  with  a  dread 
ful  grin.  Bang!  it  went  again,  while  Teddy 
gave  a  silly  laugh.  Like  a  shot  in  a  mine 
that  clears  the  air,  or  like  the  blowing  out  of 
a  candle  at  ten  paces,  the  blank  discharge  had 
its  due  effect.  The  tortured  mass  heaved  and 
groaned,  yielding  irresistibly  to  the  pressure  of 
their  terrors  ;  irresistibly  they  began  to  pour  and 
gush  out  through  the  swing-doors  at  tbe  end. 


Every  second,  so  fast  they  went,  our  road  to 
safety  was  notably  being  cleared  for  us. 

"Forward  !    Forward  !"  Brentin  sang. 

To  the  right  we  went  again  into  the  next 
room,  in  the  same  irreproachable  order,  with 
the  same  sublime  results.  Arthur  Masters,  in 
all  the  energetic  glory  of  battle,  was  waving  his 
revolver,  trying  to  crack  it,  beating  it  against 
his  thigh,  as  though  it  were  a  whip,  cheering 
on  his  men  like  hounds.  He  is  master,  as  I  have 
mentioned,  of  a  pack  of  harriers  in  Hertford 
shire,  and  all  the  time  he  was  at  work  in  the  last 
two  rooms  he  was  musically  crying,  "Melody! 
Harmony  !  Trixie  !  Hie  over,  lass,  hie  over  !" 
And  once,  as  one  of  his  sailors  bent  on  the  floor 
over  a  few  scattered  louis,  he  roared  at  him, 
"'Ware  trash  !"  When  safe  in  England,  I  told 
him  of  it  afterwards.  He  laughed  and  declared 
he  hadn't  the  slightest  recollection  of  doing  any 
thing  of  the  sort. 

Now  will  it  be  believed  that,  so  universal  was 
the  panic,  at  one  of  the  tables  only,  at  the  bot 
tom  one  in  the  room  before  the  last,  was  there 
anybody  found  to  receive  us  !  And  that  not  so 
much,  I  fancy,  in  the  spirit  of  opposition  as  of 
curiosity,  or  perhaps  inability  to  move. 

For  there  we  found  an  English  lady  tranquilly 
seated — elderly,  perhaps  sixty,  with  a  shrewd, 
not  unpleasant  face.  To  this  day  I  don't  know 
her  name,  but  I  know  her  quite  well  by  sight, 
having  often  seen  her  driving  in  Piccadilly  and 
Bond  Street.  At  the  back  of  her  chair  her  hus 
band  was  standing,  eye-glass  in  eye:  a  tall  man 


165 


with  a  large  head,  rather  of  the  empty  House  of 
Commons  air  of  importance,  coolly  watching  us. 

"  You  will  be  good  enough  not  to  touch  this 
lady's  money,"  he  said,  as  our  men  pounced  on 
the  table.  Then,  as  a  sort  of  after-thought,  he 
added,  "You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  your 
selves." 

"  Write  to  the  Times,"  chuckled  Brentin,  im 
pudently. 

The  old  lady  looked  hard  at  me,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "I've  seen  you  somewhere  before,  more  re 
spectably  engaged  than  this." 

And,  before  I  forget,  it  is  an  odd  thing  that, 
only  a  week  or  so  ago,  I  again  met  her  driving 
in  Piccadilly  ;  I  was  in  a  cab  with  Lucy,  and  we 
met  her  victoria  face  to  face.  We  stood  side  by 
side  for  quite  three  minutes  in  a  block,  and  she 
recognized  and  stared  at  me  in  astonishment.  I 
returned  her  stare,  not  rudely,  I  hope,  and  then 
positively  couldn't  help  beginning  to  laugh ;  she 
didn't  laugh  back,  but  I  could  see  quite  well 
she  was  very  near  it. 

There  still  remained  the  end  room  of  all  and 
our  exit  through  the  doors.  Now  was  the  time 
for  all  our  nerve,  all  our  resource. 

Breathlessly,  I  glanced  up  at  the  clock,  and 
saw  it  was  just  over  the  twenty-five  minutes  to 
eleven.  We  had  taken  only  some  six  or  seven 
minutes  to  clear  eleven  tables  ;  there  still  re 
mained  the  two  last  and  our  rush  for  the  yacht. 

Our  friends  on  the  left  hurried  up  to  us,  we 
having  been  slightly  quicker  on  the  right ;  and 
then,  strangely  enough,  there  was  a  moment's 


166 


dead  silence,  at  any  rate,  in  the  rooms.  In  the 
pause  we  could  hear  the  dull,  frightened  roar 
from  the  hall  outside,  and  then,  suddenly  and 
faintly,  the  short,  sharp,  defiant  call  of  a  bugle. 

The  gamblers  and  croupiers,  still  massed  strug 
gling  round  the  exit,  turned,  many  of  them  as 
though  by  an  understanding,  and  faced  us,  some 
of  them  even  crying  "  Silence  !"  "  Silence  !"  The 
valets,  clambering  on  the  side  seats,  leaned  tow 
ards  us  expectantly.  It  seemed  as  though  they 
were  looking  for  us  to  make  them  a  speech,  some 
kind  of  an  apology  for  our  inexplicable  and  out 
rageous  conduct.  It  was  a  sort  of  "  Gentlemen  of 
the  French  Guard,  fire  first !"  and  though  I  don't 
suppose  it  lasted  more  than  a  second,  it  seemed 
an  age. 

Then  Brentin  stepped  forward,  and  sweeping 
his  revolver  along  the  line  of  their  expectant 
faces,  said  in  his  ordinary  voice — and  all  the 
more  authoritative  and  effective  it  sounded — 
"  Retirez-vous  !'' 

My  gaze  was  fixed  on  a  tall  croupier,  a  man  I 
had  often  seen  walking  about  in  a  straw  -  hat 
with  his  little  daughter ;  indeed,  once  I  had 
stopped  and  kissed  the  child,  she  was  so  pretty. 
Then  he  had  been  delighted  ;  now  he  was  staring 
at  me  with  hard,  frightened  eyes,  grinding  his 
teeth. 

As  Brentin  stepped  forward,  we  stepped  for 
ward  too. 

"  Close  up  behind  ITS,  you  men !"  Masters 
called  to  the  sailors.  "Use  your  fists  if  they 
try  to  stop  you  !" 


107 


Instantly  the  screaming  and  shouting  began 
again.  As  we  moved  briskly  and  irresistibly  for 
ward,  the  seething  crowd  at  the  swing-doors 
melted  away  before  us  like  wax  before  the  fire. 
Men  and  women  began  to  steal  behind  us  and 
run  back  frantically  into  the  vacant  rooms  we 
had  just  stripped  and  left. 

"  Retirez-vous  !"  cried  Brentin,  in  a  higher  key. 

I  kept  my  eye  on  the  tall  croupier,  clearly 
meditating  mischief,  and  then  suddenly  covered 
him  with  my  unloaded  revolver.  His  face  fell 
like  a  shutter ;  all  at  once  he  seemed  to  be  struck 
imbecile.  Death  was  staring  at  him,  he  fancied, 
down  the  stubborn,  steel  tube — death  !  and  he  had 
never  made  liissalut — would  die  in  the  gambling- 
rooms  !  He  fell  back  with  the  rest,  using  his 
elbows  viciously,  and  out  we  went  with  a  rush, 
like  uncorked  soda-water  opened  by  an  unskilful 
hand  at  a  picnic. 

An  arm  reached  out  at  me  from  behind  the 
door  as  I  darted  through,  and  caught  my  coat. 
I  gave  myself  a  vigorous  wrench  and  swore  (the 
first  and  only  time  that  night),  while  my  pocket 
came  tearing  off  in  the  villain's  grasp.  He  was 
very  welcome  to  it,  if  only  as  a  souvenir. 

The  hall  was  pretty  empty,  for  most  people 
who  had  escaped  from  the  rooms  had  rushed 
wildly  out  into  the  night,  in  their  terror.  When 
the  "  Devil  among  the  Tailors  "  first  went  off  on 
the  terrace,  there  had  been  shouts  and  cries  of 
"  Les  Anarchisf.es  !"  and  all  who  heard  it  thought 
the  building  was  about  to  be  blown  to  atoms  with 
a  bomb,  and  flew,  like  sand  before  the  wind. 


168 


Still,  numbers  were  beginning  to  pour  into  the 
far  end  of  the  hall  out  from  the  concert-room, 
where  the  alarm  was  just  spreading  and  playing 
the  deuce  with  the  new  opera.  As  we  ran 
through  and  down  the  steps  to  the  right,  I  could 
hear  the  band  still  playing  and  some  one  singing. 
Then,  evidently,  the  alarm  reached  the  instru 
mentalists,  for  they  stopped  suddenly  with  a 
wheeze,  like  a  musical  box  run  down. 

Down  the  steps  we  rushed,  knocking  some  few 
of  both  sexes,  I  am  ashamed  to  say,  over  and 
aside  in  our  stride.  Out  of  the  watchful  corner 
of  my  right  eye  I  saw  the  waiters  come  running 
out  of  the  "Cafe  de  Paris,"  in  their  white  aprons. 

Outside,  as  we  turned  the  corner  of  the  build 
ing,  to  the  left  down  on  to  the  terrace,  one  or  two 
firemen  came  bounding  up  tlie  steps  to  meet  us. 
One  of  them  faced  us,  holding  out  his  arms  and 
saying  something  in  French  I  didn't  catch. 

It  was  addressed  to  Barker,  whose  only  reply 
was  to  grunt  and  knock  the  man  head  over  heels 
into  a  heap  of  cactus.  Hating  violence  as  I  do, 
I  am  pleased  to  report  it  was  absolutely  the  only 
blow  struck  the  whole  time,  and  was  a  singularly 
efficient  one. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  steps  to  the  right  we 
darted,  so  close  together  we  might  have  been 
almost  covered  with  a  pocket-handkerchief,  of 
the  larger  Derby-winner  type. 

"Get  in  front,  you  men  !"  panted  Brentin,  in 
a  sibilant  whisper.  "  Take  the  first  boat,  this 
way !" 

The  sailors  plunged  in  front  as  Brentin  pulled 


169 


the  gate  open.  Down  the  steps  they  clattered. 
One  of  them,  as  he  passed  me,  I  saw  was  trying 
to  tie  the  tape  round  the  neck  of  his  linen  bag 
with  his  teeth. 

And  now  furious  steps  were  rushing  after  us 
over  the  gravel  of  the  terrace  ;  menacing  dark 
figures,  many  of  them,  were  making  for  our 
gate. 

"  Give  'em  a  fusillade  !"  hissed  Ilines,  and 
turning  we  fired,  each  of  us,  pretty  nearly  the 
whole  of  our  six  blank  barrels. 

From  that  moment  our  retreat,  which  had 
hitherto  been  conducted  in  such  beautiful  order, 
became  as  loose  and  streaming  as  the  tail  of  a 
comet.  As  for  me,  I  fired  most  of  my  six  barrels 
as  I  ran  down  the  steps,  straight  over  my  head, 
anywhere.  I  can  feel  now  the  soft  kick  of  my 
revolver  as  I  held  it  loosely  in  my  left  hand. 

Now  I  don't  know  it  is  exactly  to  my  credit, 
but  it  certainly  says  something  for  my  physical 
condition,  that  I  was  first  down.  I  plunged 
panting  across  the  railway  lines,  and  simpiy 
hurled  myself  down  the  embankment,,  on  to  the 
shore. 

The  first  boat  with  the  sailors  already  in  it,  the 
boodle  in  its  linen  bags  gleaming  ghostily  in  a 
tumbled  heap  at  the  bottom,  was  just  pushing 
off.  I  tore  through  the  water  up  to  my  waist, 
and  they  soon  had  me  on  board,  pulling  me  in 
excitedly  by  the  arms.  The  night  was  so  dark 
that,  a  dozen  strokes  from  the  shore,  there  was 
nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  yacht's  lights,  fifty 
yards  ahead.  \Ve  flew  over  the  water,  the  men 


170 


talking,  swearing,  panting,  and  helping  one  an 
other  push  at  the  oars.  We  were  alongside  al 
most  immediately,  and  I  was  the  first  np  on 
deck. 

"All  safe,  sir  ?"  cried  the  captain,  as  I  swung 
myself  up. 

"Get  her  ready,"  I  panted,  "the  others  will 
be  here  in  a  minute." 

"Aye,  aye,  sir  I" 

My  sister  ran  up  and  kissed  me.  Miss  Eybot 
was  standing  at  the  taffrail,  glaring  like  a  young 
eagle  over  the  black  water,  and  drumming  her 
fingers  on  the  rail.  A  few  heavy  raindrops  were 
beginning  to  fall. 

"  Where's  Lucy  ?" 

"We  sent  her  below  ;  she's  reading  a  book." 

I  paused  to  listen  for  the  other  boat,  and  could 
hear  the  tearing  of  the  oars,  the  thud  of  the  row 
locks.  Away  down  from  Monaco  came  the  stern 
and  menacing  beat  of  a  drum.  Through  the 
open  lighted  windows  of  the  Casino  concert- 
room  I  could  see  dark  figures  preparing  to  de 
scend  the  ladders  I  had  noticed  considerately 
placed  there  against  the  balconies. 

And  then,  suddenly,  for  tho  first  time  since 
we  had  been  abroad,  just  as  the  other  boat  came 
tearing  alongside  and  I  stumbled  off  breathlessly 
below,  it  began  to  rain  in  earnest,  a  seething, 
hissing  downpour ;  what  my  old  Derbyshire 
nurse  used  picturesquely  to  call,  whole  water. 

By  the  time  I  reached  Lucy's  cabin  door  we 
were  well  under  weigh,  shouldering  our  way 
swiftly  and  sturdily  through  the  still,  wet  night. 


CHAPTER   XX 

WE  DISCOVEIl  TEDDY  PARSONS  IS  LEFT  BEHIND — I  MAKE 
UP  MY  MIND — TO  THE  RESCUE  ! — UNMANLY  CONDUCT 
OF  THE  OTHERS — I  GO  ALONE— DISGUISE — THE  GARDE 
CHAMPKTKE 

"  IT'S  all  over  I"  I  cried  to  Lucy,  as  I  stum 
bled  in  ;  "we've  done  it  beautifully  !  We're  all 
safe,  without  a  scratch  !" 

And  then,  so  overwrought  was  I  with  the  long 
tension,  I  became  quite  hysterical. 

I  went  off  into  a  fit  of  laughter,  and  at  last,  Avith 
the  silly,  happy  tears  chasing  one  another  like 
sheep  down  my  face,  I  managed  to  tell  her  she 
was  free  now  to  go  back  to  Wharton  Park  with 
her  father  and  grandmother,  that  Bob  Hines 
would  have  his  swimming-bath  and  gymnasium, 
that  the  ho-ho-hospitals  would  all  open  their 
closed  wards  again,  and  Teddy  Parsons  breathe 
freely  once  more  before  his  fierce  old  governor, 
the  colonel,  at  Southport. 

"  It  was  my  idea  !"  I  cried,  "and  we've  done 
it  with  the  greatest  ease — I  knew  we  should  ! — 
and  we're  all  safe  ;  and  oh,  Lucy  !  do  just  come 
into  the  saloon  and  see  how  much  we've  got.  It 
was  my  own  idea,  and  the  fools  all  said  it  was 
impossible,  and  just  look  how  simple  it's  been, 


172 


after  all !  Why,  we  must  have  carried  off  sixty 
thousand  pounds,  at  least  I" 

Lucy  seemed  scarcely  to  understand  what  I 
was  talking  about ;  but  she  saw  I  was  safe,  and, 
feeling  the  yacht  well  under  weigh,  cared  for 
very  little  else  ;  so  she  held  my  hand  and  soothed 
and  calmed  me,  and  then  followed  with  obedient 
laughter  as  I  almost  dragged  her  into  the  sa 
loon. 

There,  neatly  piled  under  the  electric  light  on 
the  table,  lay  the  linen  bags,  for  all  the  world  like 
the  letter-bags  in  a  mail-train  ;  and  there  was 
Brentin,  with  wet  hair  and  tie  all  on  one  side, 
beginning  to  empty  them  and  arrange  notes  and 
gold  in  separate  heaps.  The  silver  was  a  little 
deficient,  for  we  had  given  the  sailors  orders 
more  or  less  to  ignore  the  five-franc  pieces. 

Of  the  gallant  band,  Hines  and  Forsyth  were 
lying  on  the  sofas  with  closed  eyes,  still  slightly 
panting ;  my  sister  was  looking  on,  leaning  up 
against  one  of  the  pillars,  where  Miss  Rybot, 
seated  at  the  table,  was  unfolding  the  notes  with 
her  long,  slim  fingers,  and  arranging  them  in 
bundles  according  to  their  respective  values. 
She  was  doing  it  with  the  greatest  coolness,  and, 
for  some  reason,  a  rather  more  haughty  air  of 
displeasure  than  usual. 

"  Well,  Master  Vincent,"  said  Brentin,  look 
ing  up  at  me  with  grim  joy,  "  here  we  all  are,  and 
here  is  the  boodle.  Come  and  help  count." 

At  that  moment  in  came  Masters.  It  appears 
he  had  fallen,  getting  down  off  the  railway  line, 
and  muddied  his  trousers  ;  he  had  been  chang- 


173 


ing  them,  not  caring  to  appear  before  his  young 
lady  with  dirty  knees. 

Hines  and  Forsyth  roused  themselves,  and,  al 
most  in  silence,  we  sat  down  to  count ;  not  a 
sound  but  a  step  or  two  on  deck  overhead  and 
the  throb  of  the  engines,  the  luxurious  rustle  of 
notes,  the  pleasing  chink  of  gold. 

Suddenly  my  sister  said,  "  Where's  Mr.  Par 
sons  ?" 

Miss  Rybot  murmured,  "Two  hundred  and 
forty-seven  thousand-franc  notes." 

I  looked  round  the  saloon.  "  Yes,  by-the-way, 
where's  Teddy  ?" 

There  was  no  answer,  and  Brentin  stopped 
emptying  the  last  bag.  "In  his  cabin,  prob 
ably,"  he  said,  carelessly. 

"  No,  he's  not,"  replied  Masters,  who  shared  it 
with  him. 

"  He  came  in  your  boat,"  said  Brentin,  look 
ing  across  at  me,  startled. 

'"Indeed,  he  didn't!" 

There  was  dead  silence  while  for  a  moment 
we  looked  in  each  other's  frightened  faces. 

Then  I  got  up  and  left  the  saloon.  Outside  I 
shouted  for  him  ;  no  answer. 

I  hurried  on  deck  to  iind  the  captain  ;  it  was 
still  raining  hard,  and  the  captain  was  in  his 
shelter  up  on  the  bridge.  The  light  from  the 
binnacle  struck  up  on  the  resolute  face  of  Joyce 
at  the  wheel. 

"Captain  Evans  !" 

"Sir!" 

"Did  vou  see  Mr.  Parsons  come  on  board  ?" 


174 


"  Can't  say  I  particularly  noticed  him,  sir." 

"Joyce,  did  you  ?" 

"No,  sir." 

"  He  wasn't  in  our  boat,  was  he  ?" 

"No,  sir." 

"  Who  rowed  the  second  boat  ?" 

"  Bramber  and  Meikle,  sir." 

I  hurried  away  and  at  last  found  them  in  the 
galley  with  the  cook,  eating  a  surreptitious  sup 
per,  with  tin  plates  on  their  knees. 

"Who  came  in  the  boat  with  you  men?"  I  asked. 

"  Mr.  Brentin,  Mr.  Masters,  Mr.  Hines,  and  Mr. 
Forsyth,"  said  Bramber,  with  his  mouth  full. 

"  That's  right !"  said  Meikle. 

"  You  saw  nothing  of  Mr.  Parsons  ?" 

"No,  sir  ;  we  thought  he  was  with  you." 

I  stumbled  down  the  companion  and  almost 
fell  into  the  saloon.  They  had  stopped  count 
ing  and  looked  up  at  me  anxiously.  "  Well  ?" 

"He's  not  on  board  !" 

"Sakes  alive  !"  murmured  Brentin.  "That's 
awkward  ! — for  Mr.  Parsons,"  he  considerately 
added. 

My  sister  said  "  Good  gracious,  Vincent !" 
while  with  her  silver  pencil  Miss  Rybot  began 
to  draw  poor  Teddy's  insignificant  profile  on  the 
back  of  one  of  the  thousand-franc  notes. 

I  took  a  perturbed  turn  or  two  up  and  down 
the  saloon. 

"He  can't  have  fallen  overboard?"  ventured 
Masters. 

"How  could  he,  if  he  didn't  even  come  off  in 
either  of  the  boats  ?"  some  one  replied. 


175 


There  was  another  pause,  and  then  I  asked  : 

' '  How  closely  were  you  followed  ?" 

"Why,  not  at  all,"  said  Brentin.  "After  we 
loosed  off  the  guns  they  all  ran  back." 

"Did  anybody  see  Teddy  after  we  got  down 
the  steps  ?" 

Nobody  answered.  The  fact  was,  I  fear,  we 
were  all  too  busy  looking  after  ourselves  to  look 
after  any  one  else. 

"He  may  have  fallen  crossing  the  line.  Did 
anybody  notice  whether  any  one  fell  ?" 

Silence  again.  Then,  with  vague  emphasis, 
Brentin  said  : 

"Depend  upon  it,  Mr.  Parsons  is  ay  gentle 
man  of  so  much  resource  that,  wherever  he  is, 
he  may  safely  be  left  to  extricate  himself  from 
embarrassment.  Let  us  resoom  the  counting." 

I  looked  at  him  reproachfully. 

"Mr.  Brentin,  it  was  agreed  we  stood  by  each 
other,  I  believe  ?" 

"You  were  the  first  to  get  ahead,  sir,"  he  re 
plied,  with  what  was  meant  for  withering  sar 
casm,  "and  be  off  in  the  wrong  boat." 

"Because  I  understood  we  were  all  safe." 

"So  we  were.     So,  no  doubt,  is  Mr.  Parsons." 

"And  if  at  this  moment  he  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  police  ?" 

The  base  Brentin  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Tone/  pee  pour'louee,"  he  said,  in  New  York 
French.  "  Gentlemen,  let  us  resoom  the  count- 
ing." 

"  No  !"  I  cried,  banging  the  table,  "  not  till  we 
have  decided  what  is  to  be  done." 


176 


Brcntin  frowned  and  looked  across  at  me 
sourly.  I  couldn't  have  believed  success  would 
so  utterly  ehange  a  man  ;  but  so  it  often  is. 

"  Good  chap,  Teddy  Parsons,"  murmured 
Forsyth.  "  I'm  sorry." 

"I  do  not  know,  sir,"  scowled  Brentin, 
"  whether  you  propose  to  imperil  the  safety  of 
five  gentlemen,  three  elegant  and  refined  ladies, 
and—" 

"Was  it,  or  was  it  not,  understood  we  stood 
by  each  other?"  I  cried,  impatiently.  "See 
here,  you  fellows,  you  can't  be  seriously  thinking 
of  leaving  that  poor  little  snipe  in  the  lurch  like 
this  ?" 

"Parsons  never  was  any  particular  friend  of 
mine,"  growled  Hines. 

"  Besides,  I  expect  he's  all  right,"  said  Masters, 
evasively.  "He  knows  people  over  at  Mentone  ; 
he'll  be  off  over  there,  you  bet." 

"Don't  you  excite  yourself,  old  boy,"  mur 
mured  Forsyth.  "  Parsons  is  one  of  the  cleverest 
chaps  I  know.  He'll  get  out  of  it  all  right,  you 
take  your  oath.  Besides,  we  can  scarcely  turn 
back  now." 

"  Turn  back  !"  snarled  Brcntin.  "  This  vessel 
is  mine  and  under  my  orders.  There  will  be  no 
turning  back,  except  over  my  dead  body  ;  and 
that's  all  there  is  to  it !  Come,  gentlemen,"  he 
cried,  impatiently,  "resoomthe  counting." 

And  such  was  their  incredible  baseness  that 
they  actually  began  counting  again,  just  as 
though  poor  Teddy  Parsons  had  never  been 
born.  Only  the  ladies  looked  shocked,  while 


177 


Lucy  kept  her  frightened  eyes  fixed  on  my  face. 
As  for  me,  my  mind  was  soon  made  tip. 

"Well,"  I  said,  resolutely,  "if  you  won't  any 
of  you  come,  I  shall  go  back  alone." 

"What's  the  matter  with  walking  on  the 
waters  ?"  sneered  Breutiu. 

"In  a  few  moments/'  I  continued,  "we  shall 
be  off  Cap  Martin.  Mr.  Brentin,  you  Avill  be 
good  enough  to  give  orders  to  have  me  put 
ashore  there." 

"Aye,  aye,  sir  !"  he  jeered. 

"I  shall  make  my  way  back  to  Monte  Carlo 
alone — alone!"  I  cried,  with  pathetic  emphasis, 
"and  not  rest  till  I  have  discovered  what  has 
become  of  our  poor  lost  friend." 

"As  you  please,"  said  Brentin,  sharply  ;  "  only 
if  you  are  caught  you  mustn't  expect  any  one  of 
us  to  come  to  your  rescue.  It's  simply  sending 
good  money  after  bad." 

Poor  Lucy  began  to  cry  as,  before  leaving  the 
saloon,  I  turned  to  them  and  fired  my  parting 
shot.  I  forget  now  precisely  what  it  was,  but  I 
know  it  was  both  dignified  and  touching  ;  feel 
ing,  as  I  did,  rather  more  sorry  for  myself  than 
even  for  poor  Teddy.  But  it  had  no  effect 
whatever  in  rousing  any  of  them  to  accompany 
me  on  my  perilous  journey. 

Then  I  went  back  to  my  cabin  to  change  my 
clothes,  for  I  was  still  in  my  smoking-suit  with 
the  torn  pocket,  and,  so  attired,  could  scarcely 
venture  ashore.  Disguise  of  some  sort  was 
clearly  imperative  before  trusting  myself  again 
on  the  scene  of  our  so  recent  successful  labors. 

12 


178 


Now,  most  providentially,  before  we  left  Lon 
don,  Brentin  and  I  had  gone  off  one  morning  to 
Clarkson's,  the  wig-maker.  It  was  quite  possi 
ble,  we  had  argued,  we  might  have  to  fly,  more 
or  less  closely  pursued,  and  for  that  unpleasing 
eventuality  had  hired  half  a  dozen  Avigs,  among 
them  two  gray  ones,  for  what  are  known,  I  be 
lieve,  as  "  character  old  men."  I  had  at  the 
same  time  bought  a  pair  of  gray  Avhiskers,  and, 
with  my  old  regimental  theatricals  make-up  box, 
packed  them  away,  along  Avith  a  quiet,  elderly 
suit.  I  Avas  always  intrusted  with  the  old  men's 
parts  in  our  regimental  theatricals,  and  invari 
ably  played  them  in  a  dress-coat,  frilled  shirt, 
and  a  bunch  of  seals  with  moire  antique  ribbon, 
bending  myself  almost  double  and  rapping  Avith 
a  crook  stick  in  a  manner  so  natural  as  to  de 
ceive  even  the  men  of  my  OAVH  company  at  the 
back  of  the  hall.  So  that,  unless  I  overacted,  or 
a  Avhisker  came  off,  I  felt  pretty  sure  of  not 
being  recognized  by  comparative  strangers. 

The  quiet  elderly  suit  I  rapidly  dressed  myself 
in,  and  Avith  my  mackintosh  cape,  an  umbrella, 
and  the  make-up  box  under  my  arm,  Avent  back 
to  the  saloon. 

I  Avas  so  offended  at  their  pusillanimity  I  Avould 
look  at  no  one  but  Brentin,  who,  Avith  glittering 
eye  and  long  cigar,  Avas  jotting  down  the  amounts 
of  our  capture  on  a  piece  of  paper. 

"You  have  given  the  necessary  orders?"  I 
asked  him,  coldly. 

"Aye,  aye,  sir  !"  he  sneered.  "The  yacht  is 
now  sloAvinff  doAvn." 


179 


Lucy  had  gone  to  her  cabin  with  my  sister,  in 
great  distress,  and  Miss  Rybot  was  sitting  there 
with  arms  folded,  rubbing  her  silver  pencil  be 
tween  her  lips. 

"  Good-bye,  Mr.  Blacker,"  she  said,  "and  good 
hick  to  you.  I  admire  your  sense  of  loyalty. 
You  are  the  only  man  among  the  party  I"  she  was 
good  enough  to  add. 

"  Pop,  pop  !"  jeered  the  irrepressible  Brentin. 

Arthur  Masters  turned  pale,  and  from  a  gener 
ous  fear  of  making  him  feel  his  inferiority  by 
my  presence,  I  bowed  to  them  all  in  silence,  and 
went  up  on  deck. 

By  this  time  the  yacht  had  stopped,  and  off  the 
port -beam  I  could  just  distinguish  the  dark 
woods  of  Cap  Martin  looming.  It  was  about 
half-past  eleven,  and  still  slightly  raining,  though, 
fortunately,  quite  warm. 

Lucy  came  running  up,  and,  sobbing,  threw 
her  arms  round  my  neck.  My  sister  kissed  me 
affectionately,  and  said  : 

"We  shall  see  you  at  Venice,  Vincent  dear; 
take  care  of  yourself  !" 

And  the  next  minute  I  was  over  the  side  and 
in  the  boat.  I  said  never  a  word  the  whole  time, 
being,  I  confess,  deeply  offended  at  the  light  way 
they  all  took  my  heroic  resolution,  and  the  as 
surance  they  showed  in  so  readily  believing  (how 
ever  flattering  to  my  courage  and  address)  it  was 
all  bound  to  be  successful. 

The  men  rowed  me  ashore  in  silence,  bade  me 
a  respectful  good-night,  and  I  was  soon  clamber 
ing  over  the  stones  and  up  the  rough  bank.  80011 


180 


I  was  in  the  comparative  shelter  of  the  woods, 
and  there,  finding  the  base  of  a  fir-tree  tolerably 
dry,  I  sat  me  down  to  think  and  wait  for  morn 
ing. 

Faintly  I  heard  midnight  strike  from  Monte 
Carlo,  and  then,  so  absorbed  in  thought  and  con 
jecture  I  grew,  I  fell  asleep.  When  I  Avoke,  it 
was  just  getting  gray;  so  I  rose,  stretched  my 
stiff  self,  and  had  a  good  look  about  me.  I  knew 
tolerably  well  whereabouts  I  was  ;  for  my  sister, 
Miss  Rybot,  Masters,  and  I  had  one  day  been  over 
Cap  Martin  to  tea  at  the  hotel,  and  walked  back 
through  the  woods,  past  the  Empress  Eugenie's 
villa,  on  to  the  Mentone  road,  and  so  home. 

We  had  then  noticed,  not  far  from  the  villa,  in 
the  woods,  a  small  sort  of  ancient  decaying  game 
keeper's  lodge,  painted  outside  with  arabesque 
in  the  Italian  manner,  and  faint  vanishing  mottoes 
of  conviviality  and  sport ;  and  that  I  determined 
to  make  for,  and  see  if  I  could  there  secure  facili 
ties  for  shaving  off  my  mustache,  at  any  rate. 
Then  I  proposed  to  retire  into  the  woods  again, 
and  assume  my  character  old  man  wig  and  whisk 
ers,  and  so  disguised  make  my  way  leisurely  back 
into  Monte  Carlo,  to  try  and  find  news  of  the 
luckless  Teddy.  Beyond  that,  I  could  devise  no 
plan  of  any  sort,  determining  to  leave  all  to  the 
hazard  of  the  hour. 

I  wandered  about  a  good  time  in  the  dawn, 
and  at  last  struck  the  lodge,  soon  after  seven, 
Avheu  it  was  growing  tolerably  light.  It  was  a 
fine  morning,  fortunately,  though  very  raw  and 
cold.  The  lodge  door  was  open,  and  I  peeped 


181 


in.  Probably,  in  the  last  century,  it  had  been  a 
luncheon-house  for  the  Grimaldis  on  their  shoot 
ing  or  pleasure  expeditions ;  now  it  was  rapidly 
decaying,  and  looked  like  a  neglected  summer- 
house.  No  one  was  to  be  seen,  and  so,  the  foot 
of  a  ladder  showing  to  the  upper  room,  I  entered 
and  climbed  it. 

It  was  a  bedroom,  and  evidently  only  just  left ; 
the  bed  was  tumbled,  and  there  was  the  faint, 
fragrant  odor  of  a  pipe. 

No  time  was  to  be  lost,  so  I  poured  water  into 
the  basin  (the  owner  had  evidently  not  washed 
that  morning)  and  got  out  my  razors.  I  found  a 
pair  of  scissors,  and  clipping  myself  as  close  as 
possible  first  and  then  screwing  up  my  courage, 
for  shaving  in  cold  water  is  horribly  painful, 
and  lathering  myself  well,  I  set  to  work. 

I  hadn't  more  than  half  done  when  I  heard 
steps  outside  on  the  wet  gravel  ;  they  came  into 
the  house,  to  the  foot  of  the  ladder ;  then  they 
began  slowly  to  climb.  There  was  no  help  for  it, 
I  must  go  on  and  trust  to  luck  ;  so  on  I  went  with 
my  shaving,  keeping  an  eye  meantime  in  the  glass 
on  the  door  behind  me,  so  that  I  might  gain 
some  impression  of  the  owner  before  tackling 
and  conciliating  him. 

Fortunately,  when  I  was  trying  for  the  army, 
before  I  failed  and  went  into  the  militia,  I  had 
been  for  six  months  with  a  coach  at  Dinan,  in 
Brittany,  and  spoke  French  well  enough  for  all 
vulgar  purposes  ;  so  when  the  ordinary  type  of  an 
old  soldier,  garde  cliampetre,  head  appeared  at 
the  head  of  the  ladder,  bristling  with  astonish- 


182 


ment,  I  felt  more  at  home  with  it  than  perhaps 
the  ordinary  British  officer,  who  has  only  learned 
his  French  at  Wren's  or  Scoone's,  would  have 
done. 

" DUes  done!"  said  the  amazed  man;  "je  ne 
vous  gene  pas  9" 

" Du  tout!"  I  replied,  " entrez." 

"  Mais,  nom  d'un  chien  !"  he  cried,  coming  into 
the  room.  "  Qu'est  ce  que  vous  faiteskl9" 

"  Vous  voyez,  n'est  cepas  9    Je  me  rase." 

"  Je  le  vois  bien  !  et  apres  9" 

"  Apres  9     Je  m'en  vais." 

There  was  a  pause  while  the  garde,  cliampttre, 
came  alongside,  and  surveyed  me  with  folded 
arms. 

Tears  were  in  my  eyes,  for  the  process  was  a 
torture  ;  but  I  went  on  with  it  heroically  and  in 
silence. 

At  last,  "  Vous  etes  Americain?"  he  asked. 

" Mais  oui.     Toute  ma  vie?" 

"  C'est  bien.     J'aime  les  Americains." 

"  Merci!  moi  aussi  !" 

The  man  laughed,  and  then  he  went  on  : 
"Mais,  elites  done!  Pourquoi  vous  rasez-vous 
ici  comme  fa,  dans  ma  chambre,  ma  propre 
cliambre  9" 

"  C'est  que — "  I  hesitatingly  began,  and  then, 
with  an  inspired  rush — "voyez  vous!  Je  suis 
marie,  et  je  crois  que  ma  femme  me  troupe." 

"Oh,  la!  la!     Et  apres  9" 

"Apres?  Je  vais  me  deguiser  et  la  pinccr. 
C'est  dur,  n'est  cepas 9" 

"  Tres  dur  I"  said  the  man,  looking  amused  ; 


183 


"  mais  les  femmes  sont  tou jours  comme  fa.     Elle 
est  Americaine  ?" 
"  Anglaise." 

"Jo  deteste  les  Anglais !  Continuez,  mon  Ion 
monsieur.  Je  vous  laisse." 

"  Merci !     Dans  cinq  minutes  je  descendrai." 

"  Ne  vous  pressez  pas,  et  deguisez-vous  Men," 
he  said,  and,  leaving  the  room,  went  half-way 
down  the  ladder.  Then  he  turned  and  put  his 
head  into  the  room  again,  resting  his  elbows  on 
the  floor. 

"  DUcs  done,  mon  bon  monsieur,"  he  said,  evi 
dently  at  some  pains  to  check  his  mirth  ;  "  avec 
qui  croyez-vous  que  votre  femme  vous  trompe?" 

"  Je  ne  sais  pas  au  juste.  Avec  un  de  mes 
amis,  je  crois." 

"  Le  miserable!"  he  cried,  theatrically.  "  Un 
Francais,  sans  doute  ?' 

"  Oui,  malheureusement." 

"Oh,  la,  la!  Mais  les  amis  sont  comme  ca. 
C'est  tres  dur,  tout  de  mtme.  Courage!  Je  vais 
preparer  le  cafe.  Au  revoir." 

With  so  sympathetic  a  garde  cliampetre  I  felt 
I  was  in  luck,  and  might  as  well  seize  the  oppor 
tunity  for  assuming  my  complete  disguise,  in 
stead  of  taking  to  the  woods  ;  so  I  put  on  my 
wig  and,  with  some  spirit  -gurn,  stuck  on  my 
gray  whiskers,  lined  my  face  lightly,  and,  in 
five  minutes,  presented  myself  to  the  more 
than  ever  astonished  garde  cliampetre  as  a  re 
spectable,  well  preserved,  elderly  gentleman  of 
sixty. 

"Mais  nom  d'un  cliien!"   he   cried;    " c'est 


184 


par  fait  I  Ellc  ne  vous  reconnaitra  pas  ;  jamais 
de  la  vie!" 

We  sat  down  and  drank  the  coffee,  the  best 
friends  in  the  world  ;  and  then,  giving  him  a 
louis  and  the  box  of  make-up  and  razors  as  a 
souvenir,  I  left  him  with  a  warm  shake  of  the 
hand,  and  went  off  through  the  wood  to  strike 
the  Mentone  road  back  into  Monte  Carlo. 

I  hadn't  gone  twenty  paces  before  he  came 
running  after  me  to  say  that  if  ever  I  wanted  to 
disguise  myself  again  I  was  to  come  to  him  and 
use  his  rooms,  and  that  he  would  always  keep 
the  razors  in  order  for  the  purpose. 

"Mais  c'est  dur,  tout  de  mvme,"  he  added, 
sympathetically,  as  I  promised. 

The  last  I  saw  of  him,  he  turned  and  waved 
his  hand.  "Adieu,  mon  vieux!"  he  cried. 
"  Bonne  chance !" 


CHAPTER  XXI 

IN  MY  DISGUISE  I  AM  MISTAKEN  FOR  LORD  B. — A  CLUB 
ACQUAINTANCE  —  TEDDY  AT  THE  LAW  COURTS — MRS. 
WINGHAM —  THE  DEFENCE  AND  THE  ACQUITTAL  —  WE 
BOLT 

BEHOLD  me,  then,  in  sexagenarian  disguise, 
trudging  back  into  Monte  Carlo,  with  my  mack 
intosh  and  umbrella.  It  was  barely  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning  when  I  started  ;  and,  soon  after 
ten,  there  I  was  standing  once  more  in  front  of 
the  Casino  buildings,  out  of  which,  but  a  few 
hours  before,  I  had  so  triumphantly  rushed. 

Strange  to  say,  there  was  no  sign  of  anything 
extraordinary  having  occurred  ;  there  were  the 
usual  people  sitting  about  reading  the  papers  on 
the  seats  round  the  flower-beds,  the  usual  at 
tendants  loafing  on  the  steps,  guarding  the  en 
trance.  Over  the  building  flapped,  as  ever,  the 
dingy  Monaco  flag. 

My  first  feeling  was  of  intense  annoyance 
and  disgust  that,  notwithstanding  our  complete 
success,  the  nefarious  business  was  apparently 
being  carried  on  as  usual.  What  on  earth  did 
it  all  mean  ?  Were  sixty  thousand  '-pounds  as 
naught  to  them  ?  Were  they  placidly  going  to 
put  up  with  their  loss,  rather  than  advertise 
their  misfortune  ?  or,  under  this  apparent  calm, 


186 


were  there  really  depths  of  trouble  and  vengeance 
stirring — already  rising — to  ingulf  poor  Teddy, 
whom  I  never  doubted  from  the  first  was  capt 
ured,  and  now  shortly  about  to  appear  before 
the  Prince's  judges  away  up  at  Monaco,  bent  in 
painful  submission  at  the  criminal  bar  ! 

I  sat  down  for  a  few  moments  to  consider  what 
should  be  done,  and  look  about  me  for  some  one 
to  whom  I  could  apply  for  trustworthy  informa 
tion  :  what  was  thought  of  us,  and  what  steps 
the  authorities  proposed  to  take. 

There  was  an  old  gentlemen,  an  Englishman, 
evidently,  sitting  on  my  seat ;  and,  as  one  garru 
lous  old  person  to  another  might,  I  proceeded  to 
try  him  cautiously  with  a  few  questions.  Did 
he  know,  could  he  tell  me,  at  what  hour  the  rooms 
opened  ? 

He  looked  at  me  over  his  pince-nez,  and  said 
at  twelve.  Then  he  nipped  his  pince-nez  off, 
smiled,  and,  giving  me  a  friendly  look,  politely 
observed  he  believed  he  and  I  were  members  of 
the  same  distinguished  club,  the  Mausoleum. 
He  dared  say  I  hadn't  forgotten  dining  next 
him  there  in  the  autumn,  and  the  interesting 
talk  we  had  then  had. 

"Aye,  aye,  aye,"  I  mumbled,  in  my  fright,  a 
mixture  of  Punch  and  Pantaloon. 

He  had  seen  me  walking  about  before,  he  went 
on  (what  on  earth  did  he  mean  by  that,  I  won 
dered),  and  had  meant  to  take  the  liberty  of 
speaking  to  me.  What  I  had  said  in  the  autumn 
had  interested  and  impressed  him  very  much,  and 
he  had  often  thought  over  it.  Then  he  folded 


187 


up  his  paper,  and  evidently  began  to  lay  himself 
out  for  a  renewal  of  our  supposed  conversation, 
a  prospect  which  much  alarmed  and  disconcert 
ed  me. 

I  scarcely  liked  to  exercise  the  complete  vigor 
of  my  youth  and  make  an  immediate  bolt ;  for 
I  had  doddered  up  to  the  seat  and,  like  an  aged 
pensioner,  sat  me  down  with  a  loud  sigh  of  re 
lief — rather  overacting,  in  fact ;  so,  if  I  were  to 
keep  up  the  character,  I  must  at  least  dodder 
away  again  when  I  left.  Yet,  however  compli 
mentary  to  my  make-up,  it  was,  just  at  present, 
a  distinct  nuisance  to  find  myself  mistaken  for 
somebody  else,  and  likely  to  be  detained  over 
a  conversation  which,  under  no  circumstances, 
could  ever  have  had  the  faintest  interest  for  me. 

To  prevent  that,  I  cautiously  began  : 

"  My  servant  tells  me  there  was  a  robbery,  or 
something  of  that  sort,  in  the  rooms  last  night." 

"  Oh  !"  said  my  club  comrade. 

"Have  you  heard  anything  about  it  ?" 

"Xo,  indeed." 

"  The  Casino  authorities  keep  a  thing  of  that 
sort  pretty  close,  I  imagine,"  I  cautiously  vent 
ured. 

"  They're  quite  right,"  the  old  gentleman  re 
plied.  "Quite  right !"  Then,  after  a  pause,  he 
went  on,  "I  suppose  you  never  spoke  to  Mark- 
ham  on  the  subject,  after  all  ?" 

"No,  indeed,  I  didn't,"  I  mumbled,  making 
the  best  reply  I  could  under  the  circumstances. 
"Fact  is,  I  never  saw  him." 

"Why,  didn't  lie  turn  up  ?" 


188 


"  I  forget."  And  then  I  uneasily  added,  "  You 
know  what  a  feather-headed  feller  he  is." 

The  old  gentleman  laughed  and  said,  "  Some 
body  ought  to  speak  to  him,  though." 

"  Well,  what's  the  matter  with  his  wife  ?"  I 
said,  unconsciously,  dropping  into  one  of  Bren- 
tin's  phrases. 

"That's  more  than  I  can  tell  you,"  the  old 
gentleman  replied.  "  She's  looked  like  that  for 
a  long  time  now." 

I  was  so  rapidly  getting  tired  of  this  footling 
talk,  not  to  mention  the  fibs  it  entailed  and  the 
precious  time  being  wasted,  that,  at  any  cost,  I 
determined  to  put  a  stop  to  it ;  so  I  rose  with  an 
effort,  and  saying,  vaguely,  "Well,  I've  got  to 
meet  my  wife  ;  good-day  to  you  !  I  dare  say  I 
shall  see  you  again  somewhere  about,"  strolled 
off  towards  the  Casino  steps. 

The  old  gentleman,  who  had  evidently  looked 
forward  to  a  long  conversation,  answered  me 
rather  gruffly,  "  Good-day  !" — while  straight  up 
to  one  of  the  attendants  at  the  head  of  the  steps 
I  walked. 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  the  man  politely  said,  "the 
rooms  are  open  for  play  at  twelve." 

"As  usual  ?"  I  pointedly  observed. 

"Altogether  as  usual." 

"Notwithstanding  the  robbery  ?" 

"  Oh,  as  for  that,"  the  man  replied,  shrugging 
his  shoulders,  "it  was  a  very  small  affair.  The 
miserable  was  caught  and  would  be  punished." 

An  Englishman,  I  understood. 

Yes,  an  Englishman.     No  doubt  at  this  mo- 


189 


ment  he  was  being  tried,  and  already  safe  in  pris 
on.  "  Au  rcvoir,  monsieur  I  d  votre  service,  mon 
sieur  !" 

My  legs  felt  f  nlly  their  assumed  age  as  I  turned 
and  faltered  down  the  steps.  So  all  hope  was 
over ;  poor  Teddy  was  really  caught,  and  the  regi 
ment  would  know  him  no  more.  Unless  ! — why, 
what  could  I  do  ? — good  gracious  ! — 

I  was  so  deep  in  my  own  troubled  thoughts 
and  plans,  I  scarcely  noticed  my  supposed  old 
club  friend  on  the  seat ;  should  not  have  noticed 
him  at  all,  in  fact,  had  I  not  just  at  this  mo 
ment,  when  I  was  calling  a  carriage  to  drive  up 
to  the  "  Monopole,"  come  plump  on  the  other 
highly  respectable  elderly  gentleman  I  evidently 
so  closely  resembled. 

Face  to  face  we  met,  and  naturally  stared  at 
each  other.  Will  it  be  believed  we  were  abso 
lutely  exactly  alike,  down  even  to  the  cut  and 
color  of  our  clothes  ?  For  the  first  and  only 
time  in  my  life  I  saw  myself  at  full  length,  my 
self  as  I  should  be  at  sixty  (if  I  only  took  care 
of  myself),  sedate,  healthy,  a  county  magistrate, 
member  of  Brooke's,  with  my  youngest  boy  just 
leaving  Eton.  I  hurried  into  the  carriage  and 
told  the  man  to  drive  up  to  the  "Monopole"  as 
fast  as  he  could  go,  just  giving  a  look  round  at 
my  friend  on  the  seat  as  I  got  in.  He  had  turned, 
and,  with  his  hands  on  his  knees,  was  staring  after 
me,  dumfounded.  My  double  had  turned  and 
was  staring  after  me  too. 

To  both  those  gentlemen,  if  they  should  ever 
chance  to  read  this  work,  I  offer  my  sincere 


190 


apology  ;  they  will  understand  now  the  reason  of 
my  accidental  resemblance,  and,  as  between  men 
of  the  world,  will  no  doubt  forgive  it.  I  can 
assure  them  both  it  will  not  occur  again  ;  how 
can  it,  seeing  that  wig  and  whiskers  are  buried 
under  an  olive-tree  on  the  Mentone  road  ? 

At  the  "Monopole" — having,  of  course,  no 
notion  who  I  really  was — they  were  very  polite. 
No,  Madame  Wingham  was  not  in  ;  they  couldn't 
say  where  she  was  ;  a  letter  had  come  for  her 
early  and  she  had  gone  out.  Instinctively,  I  felt 
the  letter  was  from  Teddy,  imploring  succor. 

I  left  the  hotel  at  once  and  drove  straight  up 
to  Monaco.  At  the  cathedral  I  dismissed  the 
carriage  and  walked  on  to  the  law  courts.  What 
to  do  1  had  no  idea ;  watch  the  proceedings,  at 
any  rate,  incognito  from  the  back,  and,  at  the 
worst,  hear  with  my  own  sad  ears  how  much  poor 
Teddy  got.  Any  thought  of  rescue  was,  of 
course,  out  of  the  question.  What  could  a  poor 
old  person  of  sixty  do  against  soldiers  and  gen 
darmes  ? 

The  criminal  court  of  Monaco  sits  in  a  bare 
upper  room,  close  to  the  cathedral.  Outside, 
steep  steps  of  the  usual  Palais  de  Justice  invert 
ed  V-shape  lead  up  to  it,  with,  at  their  head,  a 
bare  flag -pole,  like  a  barber's  sign.  Up  the 
steps  I  walked,  and  with  beating  heart  (for  my 
own  sake,  I  confess,  as  much  as  for  poor  Ted 
dy's)  entered  the  fatal,  the  lethal  chamber.  It 
was  very  full  and  stuffy.  News  of  our  victory 
and  the  capture  of  one  of  the  band  no  doubt  had 
spread,  for  the  public  part  was  crammed,  tightly 


191 


as  sardines  and  garlic.  Facing,  under  a  crucifix, 
from  over  which  the  dingy  green  curtain  was 
drawn,  sat  three  judges  ;  three  real  judges,  in 
their  bands  and  toques  and  ermine  !  Common 
white  bedroom  blinds  scarcely  kept  the  sun  out, 
streaming  in  mistily  on  the  members  of  the  bar 
in  beards  and  gowns,  on  the  greffier  busily  writ 
ing,  and  the  usher  waiting  to  summon  the  luck 
less  Parsons  to  the  dock.  Just  at  present  the 
judges  were  bending  the  weight  of  their  intel 
lects  on  a  couple  of  market-women  charged  with 
fighting ;  and  there,  tightly  wedged  against  the 
partition,  stood  the  forlorn  Mrs.  Wingham,  a 
handkerchief  in  her  black  kid  grasp,  bending 
and  talking  tearfully  to  the  barrister  seated  be 
low,  whom  she  apparently  had  engaged  for  the 
defence. 

I  made  my  way  to  her  and  pulled  her  sleeve. 

"Come  outside,"  I  whispered  ;  "it's  I — hush! 
— Vincent  Blacker." 

She  stared  at  me,  and  then  at  last  followed 
obediently  to  the  door.  We  stood  outside  at  the 
head  of  the  steps. 

"They've  got  him,  I  suppose  ?"  I  asked. 

"Oh,  you  cowards!"  she  gasped,  "to  run 
away  and  leave  him." 

"  Never  mind  that  now,"  I  answered ;  "  /  have 
come  back,  at  any  rate.  Let  us  consider  what  can 
be  done.  You've  got  some  one  to  defend  him  ?" 

"But  the  man  talks  such  horrible  French,  I 
can't  understand  a  word  he  says,"  she  moaned, 
"and  he  reeks  of  garlic.  And  where's  my  broth 
er,  James  Thompson  ?" 


192 


"  He's  all  right,"  I  evasively  replied.  "  Never 
mind  him  just  now.  We  must  really  concen 
trate  ourselves  on  doing  something  for  poor 
Teddy." 

"  Oh,  I  dare  say  !  Now  you  mind  this,  young 
man  !"  cried  Mrs.  Wingham,  with  sudden  vin- 
dictiveness.  "If  he  goes  to  prison  you  go,  too  ! 
I  won't  "ear  of  his  going  alone.  I'll  shout  to  the 
police  !  I'll  'ave  you  arrested  !  He  sha'n't  be 
the  only  one  to  suffer,  poor  young  lamb  !" 

The  hair  under  my  wig  stood  up  on  end,  and 
even  my  false  whiskers  stiffened.  The  old  wom 
an  was  quite  capable  of  executing  her  threat, 
and  for  a  moment  I  felt,  not  sixty,  but  a  hun 
dred. 

Outwardly,  however,  I  was  calm. 

"Desperate  cases  require  desperate  remedies," 
I  judicially  observed.  "Take  my  arm  and  let 
us  return  to  court.  We'll  adopt  our  own  line  of 
defence.  Come  along,  ma'am,  and  for  the  pres 
ent  kindly  remember  I  am  your  husband  and  my 
name  is  Wingham." 

The  vicious  old  woman  held  me  so  tightly,  I 
knew  that  if  Teddy  went  under  and  were  con 
demned  she  meant  me  to  go  under,  too.  To 
gether  we  wedged  our  way  to  the  partition,  just 
above  our  odoriferous  barrister.  I  was  bending 
to  speak  to  him  when  suddenly  a  bell  was  rung 
and  Teddy  was  immediately  ushered,  nay,  thrust, 
in,  between  a  couple  of  gendarmes. 

Poor  chap,  he  was  almost  unrecognizable,  he 
had  been  so  roughly  handled.  His  smoking- 
suit  was  torn,  and  round  his  neck,  in  place  of 


193 


collar  and  tie,  he  had  knotted  a  handkerchief, 
coster  fashion  ;  but  what  mostly  disguised  and 
disfigured  him  Avas  his  gashed  and  puffed  face; 
for  in  falling  down  the  steps  he  had  fallen  plump 
on  a  bunch  of  cactus,  scoring  him  as  though  he 
had  been  mauled  by  an  angry  tigress.  He  never 
had  been  pretty,  but  now  he  looked  exactly  like 
the  malefactor  that,  in  the  eye  of  the  law,  at 
any  rate,  I  suppose  he  really  was. 

"  Oh,  just  look  at  his  face !"  gasped  Mrs. 
AVingham.  "  Oh,  the  poor  creature  \" 

"Hush!"  I  whispered;  "for  goodness'  sake 
keep  calm.  And  kindly  remember  he's  our 
nephew." 

I  judged  it  wisest  to  hear  the  evidence  against 
him  before  considering  the  line  we  should  take  in 
his  defence.  I  contented  myself  for  the  present 
with  whispering  to  our  counsel  that  the  prisoner 
was  our  nephew,  his  arrest  a  complete  mistake, 
and  he  himself  as  innocent  of  any  attempt  at 
robbery  as  the  newly  born. 

Meantime,  in  French  fashion,  the  President 
of  the  Court — a  robust  old  man  with  a  white 
beard  and  a  red  face,  like  a  neatly  trimmed 
Father  Christmas — after  reading  the  act  of  ac 
cusation,  was  the  first  to  tackle  and  brow-beat 
our  unfortunate  friend.  To  do  him  justice, 
Teddy  kept  beautifully  cool  (he  says  now  he 
recognized  me  and  my  wink  through  the  disguise, 
and  knew  he  was  safe)  and  answered  nothing 
through  his  puffed  mouth  but  Nony  !  and  Jam- 
myl  Every  now  and  then  the  President,  in 
the  politest  manner  in  the  world,  observed, 


194 


"  Vous  mentez,  jeune  liomme!"  or  "  C'est  faux  !" 
while  the  judge  on  his  right,  a  battered  little 
man  with  blue  glasses  and  his  mouth  all  fallen 
in,  ejaculated  "  Quelle  effronterie !"  or  "  C'est 
abominable!"  at  intervals. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  evidence  against  him 
(according  to  our  English  notions,  at  any  rate) 
was  far  from  strong.  There  were  croupiers 
present  ready  to  swear  to  having  seen  him  in 
the  rooms,  charging  down  on  the  tables  with  a 
revolver  ;  there  were  the  men  from  the  door  to 
swear  they  had  noticed  him  rush  past ;  and  there 
were  the  firemen  who  had  found  him  crawling 
away  behind  the  signal-box,  down  on  the  line, 
after  we  had  got  clear  away.  Very  good.  But 
the  cactus  had,  for  the  present,  so  disfigured 
him,  that  an  adroit  cross-examination  could  not 
fail  very  much  to  shake  them,  and  that,  ho 
doubt,  the  President  felt ;  for,  after  wrangling 
with  Teddy  for  some  time,  and  receiving  nothing 
but  an  eruption  of  Nonys  and  Jammys  for  his 
pains,  he  ill-temperedly  cried  identification  would 
be  useless  and  unfair  with  the  accused's  face  in 
its  present  condition,  and  that,  until  the  swelling 
disappeared,  he  should  remand  him  ;  by  which 
time,  he  sardonically  added,  he  had  no  doubt 
the  other  malefactors  would  be  before  him  in  a 
row. 

Teddy  gave  me  a  piteous  glance,  and,  nerving 
myself,  I  nudged  our  barrister,  whom  all  along  I 
had  been  coaching,  and  up  he  got. 

Now,  most  fortunately,  when  poor  Teddy  was 
caught,  neither  revolver  nor  spoil  were  found  on 


195 


him  ;  spoil  he  had  never  had,  and  the  revolver, 
after  the  final  discharge,  he  had  hurled  over  the 
embankment  into  the  sea.  And  he  had  always 
told  the  same  story  :  that  he  had  truly  enough 
been  in  the  rooms,  but  had  nothing  Avhatever  to 
do  with  the  robbery,  having  been  forced  out  in 
the  disturbance,  and  run  as  the  others  had  ; 
running,  in  his  alarm,  he  knew  not  where,  until 
he  fell  down  the  steps,  lost  his  senses,  and,  com 
ing  to,  found  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  police. 
He  was  a  quiet,  respectable  young  Englishman, 
he  declared,  come  to  Monte  Carlo  for  his  health, 
and  staying  with  his  aunt  at  the  hotel  "  Mono- 
pole/'  to  whom  (as  I  thought)  he  had  early  de 
spatched  a  note,  announcing  himself  as  her  neph 
ew  and  in  trouble,  and  imploring  help. 

And  here  we  were  to  claim  him,  after  so  un 
pleasant  an  experience,  Milor  and  Madame  Ving- 
ham — so  the  barrister  announced  us  ! — persons 
of  the  highest  consideration  and  wealth,  con 
stant  visitors  on  the  shores  of  the  hospitable 
Riviera  ;  in  short,  this,  that,  and  the  other,  all 
couched  in  the  finest  language,  and  none  of  it 
in  the  least  true.  And  then,  in  a  final  perora 
tion,  amid  murmurs  of  sympathy,  culminating 
in  a  burst  of  applause,  the  barrister  threw  up 
his  fat  hands,  and  invoked  justice,  mercy,  and 
international  law  (not  to  mention  the  hospitality 
of  old  Greece  and  Rome),  and,  sitting  down, 
wiped  his  forehead  with  the  sleeve  of  his  gown  ; 
while  Madame  Ving-ham  judiciously  lifted  up 
her  troubled  voice,  and  wept  louder  than  ever. 

'When  the    emotion  had  subsided,  the  Presi- 


196 


dent  called  me  forward,  and  for  the  second  time 
that  morning  my  unlucky  resemblance  to  an 
other  gentleman  (a  nobleman,  by-the-way,  as  it 
turned  out)  was  likely  to  get  me  into  further 
trouble  ;  for  in  me,  Vincent  Blacker,  disguised 
as  an  old  boy  of  sixty,  the  President  imagined 
he  recognized,  just  as  my  club  friend  had  done 
an  hour  before,  a  distinguished  guest  he  had 
met  the  previous  evening  at  the  Prince's  table  ; 
with  whom  he  had  held  an  improving  discussion 
as  to  the  present  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the 
British  House  of  Lords,  and  the  best  method  of 
amending,  without  destroying  it. 

"Comment,  Jfilor!"  he  cried,  in  astonishment, 
looking  at  me  over  his  glasses;  "c'est  votre  Sei 
gneur  ie  ?" 

Good  Lord,  I  said  to  myself,  here  we  are  again  ! 
— giving  the  old  man  a  polite  but  alarmed  bow 
and  smile. 

But  the  President  knew  me  as  Milor  B.,  he 
ventured  to  observe  (I  really  don't  quite  like  to 
give  the  illustrious  name),  and  here  was  our  ad 
vocate  announcing  me  as  some  one  else  ! 

I  hastened  to  explain,  with  perspiration  on  my 
brow,  that  Ving-ham  was  my  second  title,  and  in 
an  unfortunate  affair  of  this  kind — Cour  d'As- 
sises,  in  short — I  did  not  care  for  my  first  to  be 
publicly  mixed  up. 

The  President  bowed  and  said  that  was  well 
understood,  and  then  he  proceeded  to  put  me 
a  few  exceedingly  polite  and  fatuous  questions 
about  Teddy,  who,  as  a  contrite  nephew  cut  to 
the  heart  at  so  unfortunately  dragging  an  old 


197 


and  honored  name  through  the  purlieus  of  the 
criminal  law,  was  acting  his  part  to  perfection. 

Yes,  monsieur  was  rny  nephew,  of  a  character 
gentle  and  affectionate  ;  of  retiring  habits  and 
delicate  health,  a  little  poitrinaire,  in  fact  (at 
which  Teddy,  comprehending,  coughed  with  un 
necessary  violence),  hut  all  that  was  of  obedient, 
tractable,  and  good.  He  had  gone  down  to  the 
Casino,  while  we,  my  wife  and  I — Madame  Ving- 
ham  still  weeping — had  gone  to  bed,  believing 
he  was  in  his  room  ;  and  the  next  we  had  heard 
was  early  that  morning,  when  we  received  a  note 
from  him  announcing  the  unfortunate  capture 
and  mistake.  Monsieur  le  President  would  read 
ily  understand  what  of  grief  and  desolation  ? — 
my  affectionate  uncle's  voice,  with  a  touch  of 
an  only  nephew  in  it,  trembled,  and  madame 
shook  convulsively  as,  still  grasping  my  arm 
tight,  she  moaned  and  sobbed. 

That  was  more  than  enough.  In  a  very  few 
minutes,  after  a  brief  consultation  among  the 
judges,  Teddy  was  released  and  dramatically 
embracing  us  in  the  body  of  the  court — thereby 
nearly  bringing  off  my  left  whisker — and  I  was 
paying  our  eloquent  counsel.  Before  I  left  the 
yacht  I  had  providentially  provided  myself  with 
a  bundle  of  notes  from  the  heap  of  spoil  on  the 
table,  and  one  of  them — for  a  thousand  francs — 
I  presented  to  the  astonished  and  gratified  bar 
rister.  I  trembled  to  think  how  much  more  than 
ever  for  the  next  few  days  he  would  reek  of  his 
favorite  ail. 

Out  went  Mrs.   Wingham,  arm  in  arm  with 


198 


Teddy,  and  I  followed,  after  declining  the  Presi 
dent's  kind  invitation  to  breakfast  with  him,  on 
the  score  of  my  overwrought  feelings. 

Just  as  I  was  going  down  the  steps  a  man  I 
recognized  as  a  croupier  touched  me  respectfully 
on  the  arm,  with  a  crafty,  meridional  smile.  I 
stopped  in  some  alarm,  thinking  it  possible  I  was 
discovered.  What  did  he  want  ?  Why,  Milor 
no  doubt  remembered  that  lady  whom  Milor 
had  commissioned  the  croupier  to  find  out  all 
about  and  let  him  know  ?  Perfectly,  I  replied, 
with  stiff  and  aristocratic  upper  lip.  What  had 
he  discovered  ? 

She  was  an  Italian,  one  Madame  Vagliano, 
and  she  lived  at  the  Villa  des  Genets,  above  the 
Condamine.  He  was  proceeding  Avith  more  in 
formation,  when  I  haughtily  cut  him  short  with 
"C'est  Men!  assez!  void  madame  qni  nous  ob 
serve,"  and  handing  him  a  note,  which  I  after 
wards  discovered  was  unfortunately  one  of  a 
thousand  francs  instead  of,  as  I  meant,  a  hun 
dred,  I  hurried  to  the  foot  of  the  steps,  where 
madame  and  Teddy  were  awaiting  me.  Ce 
scutirat  de  Lord  B.  !  I  have  really  a  good  mind 
to  give  his  illustrious  name,  after  all. 

AVe  walked  on  a  little  way  in  silence,  and  then 
Mrs.  Wingham  said,  with  traces  of  tearfulness  : 

"  What  are  you  two  villains  going  to  do  now  ?" 

"Bolt  !"  I  replied,  laconically. 

"And  where's  my  poor  brother  James  all  this 
time  ?" 

"He's  all  right,  enjoying  himself  first-rate, 
sailing  about  somewhere  in  the  Saratoga." 


199 


"What's  the  Saratoga?" 

"  A  well-appointed  steam-yacht,  belonging  to 
a  friend  of  ours." 

"You  thieving  wretches!  You've  been  and 
decoyed  him  on  board,  you  know  you  'ave." 

"Well,  he's  perfectly  safe,  wherever  he  is. 
Come  along,  Teddy,  there's  no  time  to  be  lost." 

"  But  I  can't  go  like  this,"  cried  Teddy.  "  I 
haven't  even  got  a  hat,  and  all  my  clothes  are 
on  the  yacht." 

We  bought  him  a  dreadful  French  straw-hat 
up  in  Monaco,  and  then  we  jumped  into  a  car 
riage  and  drove  down  to  the  tailor's,  next  the 
"Grand  Hotel."  As  we  drove,  I  questioned  Mrs. 
Wingham  as  to  what  was  known  and  said  in  the 
town  about  our  escapade. 

"  Why,"  said  Mrs.  Wingham,  "people  have 
been  terribly  frightened,  and  are  beginning  to 
leave  the  place." 

"Good!  And  what  line  are  the  authorities 
taking  ?" 

"  They  are  denying  it  all,  right  and  left,  but 
they  are  determined  to  catch  you,  all  the  same." 

"They  can't  do  both!"  I  coldly  replied. 
"  They'd  much  better  put  up  with  their  loss  ; 
we  shall  put  the  money  to  much  better  use  than 
they  could  ever  have  done.  If  they  are  going  to 
make  themselves  unpleasant  over  it,  you  may  tell 
them  from  me  we'll  come  back  and  do  precisely 
the  same  thing  next  year." 

"  You  impident  young  feller  !"  cried  the  angry 
old  woman,  "you  forget  that  one  of  the  sharpest 
detectives  in  England  is  after  you." 


200 


' '  He's  taking  a  mighty  circuitous  route  !" 

" But  he'll  catch  you,  all  the  same,  at  last." 

"  Will  he  ?"  I  answered,  eying  her  with  cold 
amusement.  "Now  look  here,  missus,  if  you  say 
much  more  I'll  communicate  with  Van  Ginkel,and 
direct  him  to  take  the  yacht  across  to  Cuba  and 
have  James  landed  and  shot  there  as  a  filibuster." 

Whereupon  the  poor  old  soul  fell  to  whimper 
ing  again,  though  at  the  same  time  she  couldn't 
help  laughing  a  little  at  my  readiness. 

Teddy  was  soon  fitted  out  at  the  tailor's,  and 
a  sight  he  looked  in  what  they  called  the  dernier 
cri  of  a  French  travelling  costume;  more  like  a 
young  man  out  of  the  Petit  Journal  pour  rire 
than  anything. 

"Adieu,  Madame  Ving-ham  !"  I  laughed,  as 
we  got  outside.  "  Your  nephew  and  I  are  going 
to  get  bicycles  and  be  off  down  the  Corniche, 
over  the  Italian  frontier.  Say  good-bye  to  him, 
and  be  off  home  to  Brixton  yourself  as  soon  as 
possible,  or  you  may  get  into  trouble  with  the 
police  here  for  using  a  false  title  of  nobility. 
Now,  you  did,  you  know  !  it's  no  use  your  deny 
ing  it.  Take  my  advice;  the  quieter  you  keep 
for  the  next  few  months  the  better." 

She  was  so  angry  she  wouldn't  say  good-bye  to 
me,  but  she  overwhelmed  poor  Parsons.  And 
she  implored  him  as  soon  as  possible  to  give  up 
my  desperate  bad  company,  which,  sooner  or 
later,  could  only  bring  him  to  ruin  —  I,  if  you 
please,  who  at  so  much  risk  had  just  rescued 
him  ! — and  to  write  to  her  soon  to  Brixton,  and 
come  and  see  her  directly  he  got  back. 


201 


She  stood  watching  us  as  we  went  off  to  the 
bicycle  man's  in  the  Arcade,  near  Giro's,  and 
kept  on  waving  her  handkerchief  till  we  got  into 
the  gardens  across  the  road  and  were  lost  to 
view. 

"  Now  let  this  be  a  lesson  to  you,  my  son/' I 
sagely  observed,  as  we  hurried  along,  "always  to 
make  yourself  pleasant  and  polite  to  old  ladies. 
But  for  Mrs.  Wingham,  you  might  have  been 
dragging  a  cannon-ball  at  your  ankle  for  years." 

Teddy  shuddered,  and  said  : 

"What  a  blessing  I  resembled  her  nephew  !" 

"And  mine  !"  I  added.     "  Don't  forget  me." 


CHAPTER   XXII 

OUR  PLIGHT  TO  VENICE — THENCE  TO  ATHENS — WE  ALL 
MEET  ON  THE  ACROPOLIS — REAPPEARANCE  OP  MR. 
BAILEY  THOMPSON  ! — AGAIN  WE  MANAGE  TO  PUT  HIM 
OFF  THE  SCENT 

OF  our  flight  down  the  Corniche  and  across 
the  Italian  frontier  I  do  not  propose  to  say 
much.  Suffice  it  that,  at  a  quiet  spot  before  we 
reached  Mentone,  I  found  the  opportunity  to 
strip  off  my  disguise  and,  for  precaution's  sake, 
bury  both  wig  and  whiskers  at  the  root  of  an 
olive-tree  ;  where  no  doubt  they  still  remain,  if 
any  one  cares  to  go  and  look  for  them.  In  well 
under  the  hour,  so  fast  we  travelled,  we  were 
over  the  Italian  border,  just  beyond  Mentone, 
and,  after  the  usual  difficulties  with  the  dof/ana 
about  our  bicycles,  were  before  very  long  safely 
seated  in  the  Ventimiglia  train  for  Turin.  To 
avoid  being  further  troubled  with  the  machines, 
we  presented  them  to  a  couple  of  porters,  and, 
while  waiting  for  the  train,  passed  a  highly 
amusing  half-hour  watching  them  trying  to  learn 
to  ride. 

Our  point  was  Venice,  and,  travelling  all  night, 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  (Sunday,  Jan- 
nary  19th)  Teddy  and  I  were  glad  to  find  our- 


203 


selves  in  a  gondola,  flapping  along  to  the  "  Grand 
Hotel/'  where  we  were  all  to  meet. 

But  at  the  "  Grand "  there  was  a  telegram 
awaiting  me:  " Come  Athens — Brentin."  It  had 
been  sent  from  Messina  the  previous  afternoon, 
and,  disagreeable  though  it  was,  there  was  noth 
ing  for  it  but  to  obey. 

We  went  off  at  once  to  Cook's  offices  in  the 
Piazza  to  inquire  about  a  steamer  ;  but,  being 
Sunday,  of  course  found  them  closed.  Very 
awkward  !  Surely,  nowadays,  when  they  open 
the  museums,  Mr.  Cook  might  stretch  a  point 
and  do  the  same  with  his  offices  ? 

What  on  earth  were  we  to  do  ?  It  was  evident 
they  didn't  care  about  receiving  us  at  the  hotel ; 
I  was  exceedingly  dirty,  with  the  remains  of  the 
spirit-gum  on  my  cheeks  and  the  lines  of  the  old- 
age  pencil  alongside  my  nose  ;  and  poor  Teddy's 
puffs  and  scars  were  all  the  more  noticeable 
now  they  were  just  beginning  to  heal.  We 
looked,  in  short,  like  a  couple  of  broken-down 
sea-side  entertainers,  who  had  had  a  row  at  the 
last  hall  about  returning  the  money.  We  had  no 
luggage,  not  even  a  sponge-bag,  and  I  had  talked 
grandly  about  the  yacht  until  I  found  the  tele 
gram,  when  I  had  to  admit  it  wasn't  coming ;  at 
which  the  manager  had  merely  bowed  with  sour 
and  silent  politeness.  "Then  you  don't  stay 
here  !"  I  read  as  plainly  as  possible  in  his  watch 
ful  eye. 

We  went  on  down  to  the  Piazzetta,  to  the  har 
bor  side,  to  see  if  we  could  by  chance  hear  of  a 
vessel  sailing  for  Athens. 


"Yes/'  grumbled  Teddy,  "and  when  we  get 
to  Athens  we  shall  find  another  wire,  with 
'  Come  Timbuctoo  \'  Let's  cut  it  short  and  go 
home  by  rail.  I  don't  feel  safe  in  these  foreign 
parts.  Oh,  how  glad  I  shall  be  to  get  back  to 
Southport  again  !" 

"Strolling  up  and  down  Lord  Street,  eh  ?  in 
those  eternal  breeches  and  gaiters." 

"  Well,  why  not  ?  Come,  let's  be  off.  I  don't 
know  why  we  need  follow  them  half  over  Eu 
rope." 

"Certainly,  let's  be  off,"  said  I,  "if  you  don't 
mind  paying  for  the  tickets." 

"  Why,  you  don't  mean  to  say  you  haven't  got 
enough  money  ?" 

It  was  true,  I  hadn't.  What  with  the  thou 
sand  francs  for  the  defence,  the  thousand  for 
the  croupier  who  told  me  about  Madame  Vagli- 
ano  (what  the  deuce  did  I  care  about  Madame 
Vagliano  !),  the  buying  of  the  bicycles,  the  clothes 
for  Teddy,  the  tickets,  and  one  thing  and  anoth 
er,  I  had  only  two  or  three  hundred  francs  left ; 
and  Teddy  had  merely  a  couple  of  louis,  having 
spent  the  rest  in  bribing  the  Monte  Carlo  police 
to  carry  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Wingham  and  put  him 
in  a  better  cell. 

Nothing,  I  think,  tries  a  man's  nature  more 
truly  than  travelling  and  the  contretemps  aris 
ing  therefrom  ;  nothing  more  surely  discovers 
his  selfishness,  his  meanness,  his  want  of  even 
temper.  We  were  certainly  rather  in  a  fix,  but 
scarcely  to  warrant  Teddy's  outburst  of  anger  and 
ill-humor.  If  I  was  amused  at  it  all  and  kept 


205 


my  equanimity,  why  couldn't  he  ?  But  no  !  he 
kept  on  fuming  and  fretting  to  such  a  degree 
that  I  was  within  an  ace  of  decoying  him  up  a 
piccolo  canal  and  beating  him  soundly  about  the 
head  and  ears,  so  much  did  he  grate  upon  my 
nerves. 

At  last  we  did  manage  to  secure  passages  in  a 
dirty  Italian  boat,  II  Principe  Umberto,  sailing 
that  night  down  the  coast  to  Ancona  and  Brin- 
disi,  and  thence  across  the  Adriatic,  via  Corfu, 
to  Patras.  It  was  rather  a  tight  fit,  financially 
speaking,  for  after  paying  for  our  berths  and  al 
lowing  something  for  food  on  board,  we  had  only 
just  about  enough  left  for  the  tickets  from  Patras 
to  Athens.  If  the  yacht  didn't  turn  up  there, 
then  we  should  be  in  a  fix  indeed. 

We  went  back  to  the  hotel,  and,  ordering  din 
ner,  spent  the  time  till  it  was  ready  in  the  read 
ing-room.  There  were  no  London  papers,  of 
course,  of  Saturday's  date,  but  there  were  plenty 
of  French  and  Italian.  Most  of  them  had  a  para 
graph  about  us  and  our  doings,  very  guardedly 
expressed.  None  of  them  went  further  than 
merely  saying  there  had  been  an  audacious  at 
tempt  at  robbery  in  the  rooms  at  Monte  Carlo 
on  Friday  night,  and  much  excitement  in  con 
sequence  ;  but  without  exception  they  hastened 
to  add  that  all  connected  with  it  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  police,  tranquillity  reigned,  and  play 
was  going  on  as  usual.  Teddy  and  I  pointed 
each  other  out  the  paragraphs  as  we  found  them, 
and  chuckled  over  them  amazingly. 

Over  the  voyage  I  draw  a  veil :  enough  that  it 


206 


was  exceedingly  rough  and  uncomfortable,  and  we 
were  both  very  unwell,  as  somehow  one  always 
is  if  one  has  to  go  second  class.  My  only  consola 
tion  lay  in  occasionally  seeing  an  extremely  good- 
looking  Italian  stewardess,  who  looked  in  on  us 
every  now  and  then,  and  sympathetically  said 
"Male?"  I  never  answered  her;  I  don't  know 
a  word  of  Italian,  and  I  couldn't  have  said  it  if 
I  had ;  but  it  was  something  occasionally  to  see 
her  fine,  serious,  handsome  face,  shining  in  over 
our  deathliness  like  a  star. 

At  Corfu  we  managed  to  drag  ourselves  ashore 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  and  mooned  about  arm-in 
arm,  in  unsteady  rapture  at  the  warmth  and  sun 
shine.  At  the  hotel  where  we  lunched  AVC  found 
the  English  papers.  One  of  them  (that  hebe 
tated  old ,  I  think  it  was)  had  "  Extraordi 
nary  Story  from  Monte  Carlo  "  among  its  foreign 
intelligence — just  a  few  lines,  to  say  an  attempt 
had  been  made  by  some  Americans  to  raid  the 
rooms,  that  it  had  been  completely  frustrated,  so 
far  as  plunder  was  concerned,  but  the  desperadoes 
had  got  clear  away  in  a  yacht  known  as  the  Sara 
toga.  And  that,  so  far  as  I  could  ever  afterwards 
learn,  was  the  only  reference  to  our  affair  in  the 
whole  of  the  English  press. 

As  for  the  New  YorTc  Guardian,  they  declared 
the  thieves  were  all  English,  many  of  them  well- 
know  in  New  York,  where  the  season  before  they 
had  masqueraded  as  peers  and  peers'  sons,  and 
some  of  them  nearly  succeeded  in  marrying  prom 
inent  and  wealthy  society  young  ladies.  Really, 
when  one  happens  to  be  a  little  behind  the 


207 


scenes,  one  is  amazed  at  the  pompous  inaccuracy 
of  much  of  the  information  in  the  newspapers. 
But,  on  the  whole,  I  thought  it  wisest  not  to 
write  and  attempt  to  put  them  straight. 

On  the  Wednesday  morning,  early,  we  readied 
Patras,  and  were  in  Athens  soon  after  six.  We 
drove  up  to  the  best  hotel,  but  there  was  no  news 
Avhatever  of  the  yacht.  We  had  been  so  unwell, 
for  after  leaving  Corfu  it  again  became  fearfully 
rough,  we  looked  more  disreputable  than  ever. 
It  was  no  time,  however,  to  be  scrupulous,  and 
I  carried  matters  Avith  such  a  high  hand,  and  was 
so  dissatisfied  and  overbearing,  we  soon  got  rooms, 
dined,  and  Avent  to  bed.  I  have  always  noticed, 
by-the-Avay,  that  if  you  are  rude  and  give  your 
self  airs  of  importance,  even  Avithout  luggage, 
you  can  generally  get  Avhat  you  Avant  in  the  Avay  of 
accommodation.  Most  people  think  you  Avouldn't 
swagger  or  be  insolent  unless  you  Avere  really 
somebody,  and  either  get  out  of  the  Avay  and  let 
you  take  what  you  Avant,  or  give  it  you,  bent 
double  Avith  obsequiousness.  But,  then,  most 
people  are  fools.  So  Teddy  and  I  got  tAvo  of  the 
best  bedrooms,  after  totally  refusing  others,  and 
slept  in  them  Avith  great  comfort  and  soundness  ; 
though  all  the  money  AVO  had  betAveen  us  Avas 
seven  francs  fifty. 

Next  morning,  soon  after  breakfast,  AVC  Avent 
up  to  the  Acropolis.  From  my  school -days  I 
knew  it  commanded  a  fine  A'iew,  and  hoped  from 
thence  soon  to  descry  the  Amaranth. 

'Otyuoi !  there  Avasn't  a  sign  of  her.  We  could 
look  right  down  into  the  harbor  of  the  Piraeus, 


208 


three  or  four  miles  away,  and  the  only  occupants 
were  a  Greek  man-of-war  and  a  couple  of  trading 
brigs.  To  comfort  Teddy,  I  pointed  him  out 
various  famous  islands — Salamis  and  Aegina,  and 
so  forth — telling  him  such  stories  from  Greek 
history  as  I  could  remember,  or  partially  invent. 
In  the  Acropolis  itself,  wandering  among  the 
splendid  and  touching  ruins,  there  wasn't  a  soul 
but  a  dirty  man,  with  large  patches  on  his  knees, 
gathering  snails. 

"  He  follows  the  footsteps  of  Pericles,  of  Alci- 
biacles,  and  of  Solon,"  I  said,  "and  from  their 
dim  traces  he  gathers  snails  for  soup.  Such,  my 
dear  Teddy/'  I  added,  tranquilly,  "  is  all  the  his 
tory  he  knows.  To  him  the  Acropolis  is  nothing 
but  a  hunting-ground  for  snails." 

"  You're  talking  exactly  like  Mr.  Barlow  !"  re 
plied  Teddy,  with  a  dissatisfied  snort. 

In  the  afternoon  we  again  set  out  for  the  Acrop 
olis.  At  the  bottom  of  the  sacred  ascent  a  couple 
of  carriages  were  waiting. 

"It  can  scarcely  be  they,"  I  said.  "They 
would  come  round  and  try  all  the  hotels  first, 
surely." 

"  Oh,  a  man  like  Brentin  would  do  anything  !" 
Teddy  cried. 

I  looked  into  the  first  carriage,  and  soon  rec 
ognized  a  little,  rather  old,  cloak  Lucy  used  to 
wear,  with  a  high  Medici  collar.  She  never  had 
much  money  for  her  clothes,  poor  child,  and  was 
apt  to  be  a  little  behind  the  fashions. 

"It's  really  they,  Teddy,"  I  said.  " Come  along 
and  we'll  give  them  a  fright.  They  deserve  it." 


209 


"  They  do,  indeed  !"  shouted  Teddy,  scarlet 
with  rage. 

We  peeped  in  cautiously  at  the  entrance,  and 
there  they  were.  We  could  see  them  all  cross 
ing  from  the  Parthenon  towards  the  Erechtheum, 
headed  by  that  toad  Brentin.  We  let  them  get 
well  inside  the  walls  of  the  beautiful  little  temple, 
and  then  we  went  quickly  across  to  the  left  tow 
ards  them. 

Just  as  we  got  up  to  the  white  marble  walls,  I 
pushed  Teddy  and  said,  "Hide."  Then  I  went 
on  in  alone.  Brentin  was  just  saying,  "This  is' 
apparently  the  Erechtheum.  There's  mighty 
little  of  it  left ;  why  don't  they  put  it  straight, 
anyway  ?" 

You  should  just  have  seen  their  faces  when 
they  turned  and  saw  me.  Lucy,  who  was  look 
ing  very  pale,  ran  tottering  towards  me  with  a 
little  cry,  and  nearly  fainted  in  my  arms.  My 
sister  followed,  and  was  soon  on  my  other  shoul 
der.  Miss  Kybot  waved  her  parasol,  Forsyth 
and  Hines  cheered,  and  Arthur  Masters  gave  a 
loud  gone  away!  All  Brentin  said  was,  with  rath 
er  a  forced  smile,  "  Well,  all  right,  eh  ?  Here 
you  are.  You  got  my  telegram  ?" 

We  sat  down  on  the  fallen  blocks  of  marble, 
and  everybody  began  talking  at  once.  Where 
was  Teddy,  they  asked,  and  why  wasn't  he  with 
me  ?  Had  he  really  been  caught,  or  had  he,  af 
ter  all,  run  straight  away  home  in  his  fright  ? 

As  if  trying  to  avoid  a  painful  subject,  "Why 
didn't  you  come  to  Venice,  as  we  arranged  ?"  I 
asked. 

14 


210 


"  We  heard  the  French  corvette  was  somewhere 
up  in  those  waters," Brentin  replied,  "and  thought 
it  safer  not.  We  should  have  come  to  look  for 
you  here  at  once,  only  we  calculated  you  couldn't 
possibly  arrive  till  to-morrow.  But  what  about 
Parsons  ?  What's  the  matter  with  your  telling 
us  all  about  Parsons  ?" 

"  Poor  Teddy  !"  I  sighed,  and  everybody  looked 
shocked.  I  had  scarcely  made  up  my  mind  wheth 
er  to  say  he  was  dead,  or  in  prison  for  life,  when 
Teddy  himself  suddenly  fell  in  among  us  on  his 
hands  and  knees.  He  looked  so  ghastly,  with 
his  white  face  and  red  cactus  scars — to  say  noth 
ing  of  his  extraordinary  Avay  of  entering — that 
the  ladies  began  to  scream,  and  Bob  Hines  fell 
over  backward. 

"  Teddy  !" 

"  Hush  !  Hush  !  Hush  !"  hissed  Teddy. 
"  Bailey  Thompson  !" 

"  Im  -  pawsible,"  snarled  Brentin.  "He's  in 
Minorca/' 

"  I  say  it's  Bailey  Thompson.  I  saw  him  from 
outside,  just  coming  in." 

"Alone?" 

"  Yes.     Keep  quiet !" 

We  all  huddled  close  together  and  kept  as  still 
as  death. 

"I  couldn't  be  mistaken,"  Teddy  whispered. 
"He's  got  on  the  same  clothes  and  carrying  the 
shawl,  and  he  was  looking  about  him,  just  as  he 
used  at  Monte  Carlo." 

"  You  don't  say  !"  said  Brentin,  looking  scared. 
"  What  the  plague  is  he  doing  in  Athens  ?  We 


211 


shall  have  all  our  trouble  over  again."  And 
then,  thinking  he  was  not  very  polite,  he  added, 
"  And  how  are  you  ?  All  right  ?" 

"  No  thanks  to  you  !"  grunted  Teddy,  at  which 
the  unfeeling  Brentin  began  to  chuckle. 

"  Somebody's  scratched  your  face  well  for  you," 
he  laughed.  "  Looks  like  marriage  lines  !" 

We  lay  very  still,  hoping  against  hope  Thomp 
son  wouldn't  think  the  Erechtheurn  worth  a  visit ; 
but  the  fact  was  he  had  looked  in  the  carriages 
outside  and  questioned  the  driver,  and,  from  the 
cloaks  and  what  the  man  had  said,  made  up  his 
mind  it  was  our  party.  So,  after  peeping  in  at 
the  Parthenon,  he  came  straight  across ;  we  heard 
his  footsteps,  the  divisional  tread,  closer  and 
closer.  Then  he  tumbled  over  a  column,  swore, 
and  the  next  moment  was  inside  surveying  us, 
huddled  together  like  a  covey  of  partridges, 
with  an  expression  I  don't  find  it  at  all  easy 
to  describe — it  was  such  a  mixture  of  every 
thing. 

Poor  creature,  he  had  evidently  suffered!  His 
face  was  drawn,  his  beard  unshaved,  and  his  for 
lorn  eyes  looked  defiantly  out  from  under  a 
heavily  lined  brow.  His  mouth  was  tight  and 
grim,  and  yet  about  the  compressed  lips  there 
was  an  air  of  satisfaction,  almost  of  unholy 
mirth.  When  he  saw  us,  ran  his  glance  over  us 
and  noted  AVC  were  all  there,  netted  for  the 
fowler,  flame  leaped  to  his  sombre  eyes.  There 
was  dead  silence  while  he  stepped  majestically, 
solemnly  forward,  threw  his  plaid  shawl  on  a 
column,  and  unbuttoned  his  dusty  frock-coat. 


212 


"  And  how  are  you  ?"  said  Brentin,  coolly. 
"  Come  to  see  over  the  Acropolis  ?" 

Thompson  glared  at  him,  and  without  reply 
ing  sat  down  on  his  shawl. 

"How  did  you  get  here  ?  Had  a  good  voyage  ? 
Sakes  alive,  man,  what  a  hole  in  your  boot  I" 

"Poor man  !"  whispered  Lucy,  "how  fearfully 
tired  and  ill  he  looks." 

At  so  unexpected  an  expression  of  sympathy, 
the  detective's  expression  suddenly  changed. 
Poor  wretch,  he  was  worn  out,  hungry,  and  de 
pressed  ;  humiliated  and  miserable,  I  suppose, 
at  being  so  egregiously  outwitted ;  for  his  lip 
trembled,  and,  putting  his  face  in  his  dog-skin 
hands,  he  actually  began  to  cry.  I  never  felt  so 
ashamed  of  myself,  so  sorry  for  a  man,  in  my 
life. 

"Cry,  baby,  cry  !"  taunted  Brcntin.  "Serve 
you  thundering  well  right — 

"  Be  quiet  I"  I  sternly  cried.  Brentin  scowled 
at  me,  while  poor  Thompson  began  to  search 
with  blinking  eyes  for  his  handkerchief. 

Then  I  went  on,  with  real  feeling  in  my 
voice  : 

"We  are  sorry,  Mr.  Thompson,  for  the  way 
we  have  treated  you,  but  you  must  see  there  was 
no  other  course  open  to  us.  AVe  were  entirely 
frank  with  you,  but  you  were  never  frank  with 
us.  \Ve  discovered  your  identity  quite  by  acci 
dent,  and  took  the  advantage  we  thought  our 
due  of  the  discovery/' 

"Oh,  all  right,  sir,  thank  you  I" 

"  At   any   rate,"  struck   in   the   irrepressible 


213 


Brontin,  with  a  wink  at  me,  "you  have  the  satis 
faction  of  knowing  you  spoiled  a  fine  piece  of 
work,  which  will  now,  I  guess,  be  consummated 
by  other  more  imperfect  hands  than  ours." 

"What!"  said  the  detective,  brightening. 
"You  never  even  made  the  attempt  ?" 

"  What  do  you  take  us  for  ?"  cried  the  in 
genious  and  evasive  Brentin.  "  Make  an  attempt 
of  that  nature,  with  the  sharpest  detective  in 
old  England  on  our  heels  ?  No,  sir  !" 

Thompson  looked  pleased,  and  then,  with  sly 
malice,  observed  : 

"But,  after  all,  gentlemen,  you  might  have 
done  it  with  perfect  safety." 

"  What !" 

"  With  the  most  perfect  safety,  I  assure  you. 
I  had  not  yet  communicated  with  the  Monte 
Carlo  police." 

"  That  so  ?     But  afterwards  ?" 

"  Oh,  afterwards,  I  should  have  pinched  you 
all,  of  course  !" 

"There  you  are  !"  cried  Brentin  ;  "we  knew 
that,  mighty  well.  No,  sir !  There  are  no 
flies  on  us.  You  gave  us  a  fright,  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson,  and  we,  I  guess,  have  given  you  one. 
But  no  real  damage  has  been  done  to  either 
party.  Let  us  cry  quits.  Your  hand,  sir  !" 

The  simple  fellow  shook  his  hand  obediently, 
and,  polite  as  ever,  bowed  to  the  ladies.  My  sister 
he  already  knew.  She  smiled  at  him  and  said  : 

"But  how  on  earth  have  you  got  here,  Mr. 
Bailey  Thompson  ?  We  all  understood  you  were 
going  to  the  Balearic  Isles." 


214 


"  I  know  nothing  of  my  original  destination, 
madam,"  the  detective  replied.  "I  only  know 
that  after  steaming  for  some  few  hours  in  one 
direction,  Mr.  Van  Ginkel  suddenly  bouted  ship 
and  went  full  speed  in  the  other." 

"But  why,  I  wonder  ?" 

"Some  matter,  I  understood  from  the  captain, 
connected  with  his  divorced  wife." 

"  The  Princess  Danleno,"  said  Brentin. 

"  Some  such  name.  She  had  left  Cannes  and 
gone  to  San  Remo,  and  Mr.  Van  Ginkel  was 
anxious  to  see  her  and  effect  a  reconciliation,  so 
the  captain  told  me.  He  is  full  of  caprice,  like 
all  invalids,  and  on  the  caprice  seizing  him  he 
simply  bouted  ship  without  a  word.  But  first 
he  had  to  get  rid  of  me ;  so  he  carried  me,  full 
speed  ahead,  to  the  southernmost  point  of 
Greece  —  somewhere  near  Cape  Colonna,  I  be 
lieve — and  there  he  carted  me  ashore,  gentle 
men,  like  a  sack  of  coals." 

The  poor  man's  lip  began  to  tremble  again, 
and  he  looked  round  our  circle  piteously  for 
sympathy. 

"Dear!  dear!"  murmured  Brentin;  "how 
like  him  !  And  never  said  a  word  the  whole 
time,  I  dare  say  ?" 

"  Not  one  !  That  was  early  on  Monday  morn 
ing.  Since  then  I  have  been  slowly  making  my 
way  up  the  Morea  with  great  difficulty  and  dis 
comfort,  mainly  on  foot,  and  sometimes  getting 
a  lift  in  a  country  wagon.  At  Nauplia  I  man 
aged  to  secure  a  passage  in  a  coasting  steamer, 
which,  after  a  tempestuous  voyage,  has  just  land- 


215 


ed  me  at  the  Piraeus.  There  I  saw  your  yacht, 
gentlemen,  and  knew,  of  course,  you  were  in  the 
neighborhood." 

"  How  did  you  manage  about  the  language  in 
the  Peloponnese  ?"  asked  Hines,  curiously. 

"Why,  fortunately,  I  can  draw  a  little,"  replied 
the  detective,  who  was  every  moment  recover 
ing  his  spirits,  "and  anything  I  wanted  I  drew. 
But,  often  as  I  drew  a  beefsteak  or  a  chop,  gen 
tlemen,"  he  said,  plaintively,  "I  never  got  it. 
Nothing  but  eggs  and  a  sort  of  polenta,  and  once 
— only  once — goat's  flesh,  when  I  drew  a  bed 
stead,  in  token  that  I  wanted  to  sleep  there. 
And  the  fleas,  gentlemen,  the  fleas  !"  he  cried. 
"  There  is  a  large  Greek  flea — 

"  Never  mind  that  just  now,"  said  Brentin, 
gravely.  "  There  are  elegant  and  refined  ladies 
present.  The  essential  is  you  are  safe,  and  bear 
us  all  no  malice.  That  is  so,  eh  ?" 

"  None  in  the  world  !"  cried  the  good  fellow. 
"But  I  shall  be  much  obliged  if  you  will  give 
me  directions  how  to  get  home  from  the  Acrop 
olis  in  Athens  to  Brixton.  I  have  no  money  to 
speak  of,  and  a  large  hole  in  my  right  boot." 

"  That  will  be  all  right,  sir,"  said  Brentin, 
rising,  Avith  his  grand  air.  "Henceforth  you 
are  our  guest.  By-gones  are  by-gones,  and  we 
will  look  after  you  till  you  arc  safely  landed  at 
Charing  Cross." 

"  Thence,  by  tram  or  'bus,  over  Westminster 
Bridge,"  murmured  Hines,  as  we  all  rose,  shook 
ourselves,  and  prepared  to  descend. 

"Well,  all's  well  that  ends  well,"  cried  Thomp- 


216 


son.  "But,  all  the  same,  I  rather  regret,  for  all 
our  sakes,  the  Monte  Carlo  business  was  left 
untried." 

"Some  other  day,  sir,"  said  Brentin  ;  "some 
other  day,  when  you  are  enjoying  your  well-earn 
ed  retirement,  and  an  officer  not  quite  so  plaguy 
sharp  is  in  your  place." 

The  pleased  detective  walked  jauntily  on  in 
front  with  the  rest,  while  Brentin,  my  sister,  and 
I  followed,  Lucy  clinging  fondly  to  my  arm. 

"  But  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  him  ?"  I 
whispered.  "  It  is  ingenious  to  let  him  suppose 
the  thing  has  not  been  done  ;  but  once  he  gets 
on  board  the  yacht  he's  bound  to  discover  all, 
and  that  he's  been  fooled  again.  Then  it  will 
be  all  up,  indeed  !" 

"  Some  of  you  must  take  him  home  overland, 
on  the  pretence  there  isn't  room  for  every  one  on 
the  Amaranth." 

"But  he  must  find  it  all  out  directly  he  gets 
to  England,  mustn't  he  ?"  said  Lucy,  softly. 

"I  hope  to  goodness  he  won't  come  trooping 
over  to  Medworth  Square,"  my  sister  observed. 
"  I  shall  never  hear  the  last  of  it  from  Frank. 
And,  after  all,  I've  done  nothing,  have  I  ?" 

"  True,  0  queen  !"  muttered  Brentin,  knit 
ting  his  brows.  "  But  by  the  time  he  gets  back 
the  scent  will  be  fairly  cold.  And  the  Casino 
authorities  are  taking  the  sensible  course  of 
ignoring  the  whole  affair.  That  is  so,  isn't  it  ? 
No  doubt,  you've  seen  the  papers." 

Yes,  I  said,  I  had,  and  that  was  their  line. 

"  There    you    are,  then !      For    the    rest,   we 


217 


must  simply  trust  our  luck.  It  has  stood  by  us 
pretty  well  so  far.  Oh,  ami,  by-the-way,  what 
about  Mr.  Parsons  ?  How  did  you  manage  to 
get  him  out  ?'"' 

I  rapidly  sketched  my  part  in  the  affair,  and 
made  them  all  laugh  amazingly  as  I  told  them 
of  my  disguise  and  its  accidental  resemblance  to 
Lord  B. 

"Whether  we  are  drunken  men  or  fools/' 
laughed  Brentin,  "I  know  not ;  but  Providence 
has  certainly  looked  after  us  so  far  in  a  way 
that  I  may  fairly  call  the  most  favored  nation 
clause." 

"  Quoti  moris  minus  est,  co  minus  est periculi !" 
I  quoted,  somehow  happening  to  remember  the 
sentence  from  my  old  Latin  grammar.  "'Which 
is  the  Latin,  ladies,  for  'Where  there  is  the  less 
feat',  there  is  the  less  danger."' 

Lucy  pressed  my  arm  and  smiled  happily. 

Just  as  we  neared  the  carriages  : 

"  By-the-way/''  I  asked,  "what  did  it  all  tote 
up  to  ?" 

"The  boodle?" 

"  Yes." 

"Just  over  one  million  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  francs  ;  roughly  speaking,  fifty-eight 
thousand  pounds  of  your  money." 

"You'll  be  back  in  AVharton  Park,  dearest,"  I 
whispered,  "before  the  swallow  dares!" 

She  pressed  my  arm  again  and  smiled  more 
happily  than  ever. 

"The  only  thing  that  troubles  me,"  said  my 
sister,  "is  how  on  earth  I  am  to  establish  an 


218 


alibi  to  Frank's  satisfaction,  in  case  there's  a 
rumpus  when  we  get  back." 

"Alibis  are  old-fashioned  nowadays,"  I  an 
swered.  "  We  shall  have  to  think  of  something 
else  for  you  than  an  alibi." 

The  unsuspicious  Bailey  Thompson  was  stand 
ing  at  one  of  the  carriage  doors  in  a  dandified 
attitude,  making  himself  agreeable  to  Miss 
Rybot. 

As  we  drove  away  he  again  said — for  after  all 
he  was  human  and  meant  to  be  malicious — "  But 
I  do  really  wonder  you  didn't  do  it,  gentlemen, 
after  all  !" 

"  Don't  torture  us  with  remorse,  Mr.  Bailey 
Thompson,  sir,"  Brentin  cried;  "the  sense  of 
neglected  opportunity  is  hard  to  bear." 

"Well,  all  I  can  say  is,  I  never  saw  an  easier 
bit  of  work  in  my  life,  and  in  my  absence  you 
were  really  perfectly  safe.  Those  French  police 
are  such  utter  fools,  and  as  likely  as  not  the 
Casino  people  would  have  let  you  off.  Come, 
now,  confess  !  Don't  you  regret  it  ?" 

"  Sir,"  said  Brentin,  loftily,  "  I  regret  noth 
ing,  and  never  did.  All  is  for  the  best  in  the 
best  of  all  possible  worlds." 

And  the  good  detective  couldn't  understand 
why,  a  few  moments  later,  Brentin  was  seized 
with  a  great  roar  of  laughter.  He  explained  it 
was  from  seeing  "Koik"  in  Greek  letters  over 
Cook's  offices;  it  looked  so  droll!  We  all 
laughed  heartily,  too,  and  so  drove  up  in  im 
mense  mirth  and  spirits  to  our  hotel. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

WE  ARRIVE  SAFE  IN  LONDON  AND  GO  TO  MEDWORTH 
SQUARE — BACK  A.T  "THE  FRENCH  HORN" — NEWS  AT 
LAST  OF  THE  AMARANTH —  I  INTERVIEW  MR.  CRAGE  AND 
FIND  HIM  ILL 

VERY  little  remains  to  tell ;  but  that  little  is 
of  importance.  Of  our  journey  home  together 
(my  sister,  Lucy,  Bailey  Thompson,  Parsons,  and 
I,  the  others  sailing  on  board  the  yacht)  I  need 
say  nothing,  for  it  was  entirely  pleasant  and 
uneventful.  Our  luggage  wasn't  even  robbed 
on  the  Italian  lines  ;  we  felt  the  cold  somewhat 
as  we  neared  home,  and  that  was  all. 

At  Charing  Cross  Thompson  was  evidently 
well  known  to  the  officials  ;  he  proclaimed  us  all 
his  friends  and  above  suspicion,  so  our  portman 
teaus  were  barely  looked  at ;  everybody  touched 
their  hats  to  him,  and  we  felt  quite  royal  in  our 
immunities. 

There  we  parted.  Teddy  jumped  into  a  cab 
for  Euston,  to  catch  the  night  express  for  his 
dear  Southport ;  my  sister,  Lucy,  and  I  went  off 
in  a  four-wheeler  to  Medworth  Square  ;  while 
the  still  unsuspicious  Thompson  remained  on 
the  platform,  bowing  and  smiling.  Once  safely 
landed  at  Charing  Cross,  our  duty  to  him  Avas 
plainly  at  an  end.  N"o  doubt  he  would  im- 


220 


mediately  go  off  to  Brixtou,  find  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Wingham,  and  learn  the  truth  ;  but  what  that 
might  mean  to  us  I  really  neither  knew  nor 
cared.  We  had  so  far  so  brilliantly  succeeded 
that  readers  must  not  blame  me  if  I  continued 
obstinately  optimistic,  and  believed,  whatever 
trouble  might  still  be  in  store  for  us,  we  should 
certainly  somehow  emerge  from  it  scathless  and 
joyous. 

"I  hope,"  my  sister  said,  as  wo  drove  away, 
"  he  won't  think  it  rude  of  me  not  asking  him  to 
come  and  call.  After  all,  he's  not  quite  of  our 
world,  and  he  would  need  such  a  deal  of  explain 
ing,  for  Frank  always  insists  on  knowing  exactly 
who  everybody  is." 

' '  He  won't  think  of  coming  of  his  own  accord, 
I  suppose  ?"  whispered  Lucy.  "And,  oh  !  I  do 
so  wish  he  wasn't  a  friend  of  Mr.  Crage's." 

"Lor' bless  you  !"  I  philosophically  remarked, 
"it's  even  money  we  none  of  us  ever  see  or  hear 
of  him  again." 

But  we  did,  that  day  week  exactly,  when  he 
turned  up  at  "The  French  Horn,"  purple  with 
ineffective  rage,  accompanied  by  his  dazed  French 
confrere,  Monsieur  Cochefort. 

In  Medworth  Square  all  was  as  usual.  The 
Thursday  evening  German  band  was  playing  the 
usual  selection  from  that  tiresome  old  "  Mika 
do,"  and  my  sweet  niece  Mollie  was  soon  tearing 
down  the  stairs  to  welcome  us. 

"She  watch  for  you  every  night,  ma'am,"  her 
Welsh  nurse  said  ;  "and  last  night  she  go  down 
stairs  her  best,  and  blow  up  Mr.  Blyth  like  any- 


221 


thing  for  doing  a  door -bell  ring  exactly  like 
yours,  ma'am." 

My  brother-in-law  was  very  glad  to  get  his 
wife  back,  and,  having  been  warned  by  letter, 
welcomed  my  dear  Lucy  Avith  sufficient  warmth. 
How  could  he  help  it  ?  Everywhere  she  went 
she  won  all  hearts.  Brentin  and  Parsons  both 
admired  her  desperately,  and  Bob  Hines,  my 
sister  told  me,  paid  her  more  attention  on  the 
yacht  corning  from  Monte  Carlo  than  he  had 
ever  been  known  to  pay  any  one  before. 

Even  Forsyth,  who  is  one  of  the  most  difficile 
men  I  know  (unless  the  young  lady  makes  a  dead 
set  at  him,  when  he  thinks  her  lovely),  even  he 
said  to  me,  "That's  a  real  pretty  girl,  Vincent, 
and  you're  a  very  lucky  man  to  get  her  ;"  while 
Miss  Eybot  once  quite  surprised  me  by  the 
warmth  of  her  congratulation.  "  She's  so  fresh 
and  unaffected,  Mr.  Blacker,"  she  said.  "She's 
like  a  breeze  that  meets  you  at  the  end  of  a 
country  lane  when  you  come  suddenly  upon  the 
sea."  Which  I  thought  both  poetical  and  per 
fectly  true  —  rather  a  rare  combination  nowa 
days. 

The  next  morning  Lucy  and  I  were  off  to  Liv 
erpool  Street  for  Nesshaven  and  "  The  French 
Horn."  As  we  drove  up,  and  I  saw  the  familiar 
place  once  more,  blinking  in  the  soft  February 
sunshine,  just  as  we  had  left  it,  I  could  scarcely 
believe  all  I  had  gone  through  in  the  way  of 
peril  and  adventure.  Somehow,  if  one  leaves  a 
place  for  a  time,  and  has  experiences  of  moment 
in  the  interval,  one  expects  those  experiences  to 


222 


have  had  their  effect  elsewhere,  too,  even  on  in 
animate  objects. 

I  felt  older,  wiser,  more  developed,  more  of  a 
man,  and  I  was  astonished  to  find  the  place  quite 
unaltered  and  Mr.  Thatcher  looking  just  the 
same  as  he  came  running  out  in  his  dirty  old 
blazer.  His  mother  was  at  the  window,  gazing 
through  the  panes  with  the  naive  curiosity  of  a 
child  at  new  arrivals.  She  kissed  Lucy,  and  said 
to  me  :  "  Well,  here  you  are  back  safe,  you  bad 
young  man.  You've  given  us  a  rare  fright,  I  can 
tell  you" — and  that  was  all. 

That  same  evening,  when  the  ladies  Avere  safe 
ly  abed,  I  had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Thatcher  in 
the  bar  parlor.  After  dear  Lucy's  escapade,  we 
decided  we  might  as  well  be  married  at  once, 
without  waiting  for  Easter ;  and  that,  with  the 
help  of  a  license,  the  following  Thursday,  Feb 
ruary  6th,  would  be  none  too  soon.  For  myself, 
apart  from  other  considerations,  I  thought  it 
clearly  wisest  to  get  married  and  clear  out  of  the 
country,  on  a  lengthy  wedding-tour,  as  quick  as 
we  could  ;  so  that,  in  case  of  search  being  made 
for  me,  as  the  head  and  guiding  spirit  of  the 
raid,  I  might,  for  some  few  months  at  any  rate, 
be  non  inventus. 

Next,  I  delicately  approached  the  subject  of 
the  repurchase  of  Wharton  Park.  I  told  Mr. 
Thatcher  we  had  been  extraordinarily  lucky  at 
Monte  Carlo,  and  that,  by  a  combination  of  rare 
circumstances,  I  was  the  richer  by  £30,000  than 
when  I  started.  He  was  shrewd  enough  to  listen 
in  silence  and  ask  no  sort  of  question  as  to  what 


223 


particular  system  I  had  pursued  to  enable  me  to 
return  with  so  large  a  sum.  In  fact,  I  scarcely 
gave  him  time  to  ask  questions,  I  was  so  rapid, 
hurrying  forward  only  to  the  main  point,  wheth 
er  Crage's  offer  were  still  open  and  we  should 
still  he  able  to  get  the  old  wretch  out. 

He  told  me  that  since  Crage's  last  visit  and 
offer  to  marry  Lucy  he  had  seen  nothing  of  him, 
and,  so  far  as  he  knew,  the  place  was  still  to  be 
had.  We  could,  if  I  liked,  go  up  to  the  house 
in  a  day  or  two  and  make  inquiries  cautiously,  or 
write  Crage  a  letter  making  him  a  formal  pro 
posal. 

To  which  I  replied  that,  knowing  something 
of  human  nature,  I  judged  it  best,  when  we  made 
our  offer,  to  be  prepared  with  the  actual  sum  in 
notes  and  gold  to  make  it  good  ;  for,  with  a 
man  like  C'rage,  combined  of  malice  and  craft, 
he  would  most  likely  try  to  bluff  and  raise  us  un 
less  he  saw  the  very  gold  and  notes  before  him, 
beyond  which,  not  having  any  more  to  offer,  we 
were  not  prepared  to  go. 

"Very  true,"  said  Thatcher.  "There's  noth 
ing  like  the  ready  to  tempt  a  man,  as  I  know  very 
well.  Why,  when  I  was  in  business — ' 

"  Then  all  we  can  do,"  I  continued,  cutting 
him  short,  "is  to  wait  in  patience  till  the 
boodle—" 

"  The  what  ?"  said  Thatcher,  taking  the  pipe 
out  of  his  mouth. 

"  It's  an  American  term — the  money  we  have 
won,  arrives.  It's  coming  in  the  yacht,  and  should 
be  here  in  a  day  or  two  now.  Then  we'll  go  up 


224 


with  it  to  the  house,  in  a  bag,  and  spread  it  out 
on  the  table — " 

"  And  I  shall  be  back  in  Wharton  Park  again  !" 
cried  Thatcher.  "  Gracious  powers  !  Who  would 
have  thought  it  possible  ?  And,  of  course,  it  will 
be  settled  on  Lucy.  Me  for  life,  and  then  Lucy. 
How  delighted  my  poor  old  mother  will  be  !" 

"Yes,"  I  said,  "and  that  your  name  may  be 
perpetuated,  I  will  add  it  to  my  own.  Father- 
in-law,  here's  health  and  prosperity  to  those  tAVO 
fine  old  English  families,  the  Thatcher-Blackers  I" 

So  there  was  nothing  we  could  do  but  wait  in 
patience  for  the  arrival  of  the  Amaranth.  It 
was  tedious,  anxious  work,  for  though  I  never 
doubted  all  would  be  well,  yet  Bailey  Thomp 
son's  portentous  silence  somewhat  alarmed  me  ; 
and  as  the  days  passed,  and  neither  he  nor  the 
yacht  gave  any  sign  of  their  existence,  my  nerves 
began  to  get  unstrung,  and  I  grew  worn  and  irri 
table. 

Fortunately,  as  often  happens  in  the  early 
days  of  February,  the  weather  was  beautifully 
fine ;  so  fine  that  the  more  flatulent  class  of 
newspapers  were  full  of  letters  from  country 
correspondents,  who  were  finding  hedge-spar 
rows'  eggs  and  raspberries  in  their  gardens,  and 
the  usual  Lincolnshire  parson  broke  into  jubi 
lant  twitterings  over  his  dish  of  green  pease. 
Otherwise,  I  don't  think  I  really  could  have 
borne  it. 

At  last,  late  on  the  Tuesday  evening,  came  a 
telegram  from  Brentin  at  Southampton — "Safe, 
will  arrive  to-morrow" — and  I  began  to  breathe 


a  little  easier.  But  not  a  word  of  any  sort  from 
Bailey  Thompson.,  neither  a  reproach  nor  a 
threat ;  till  I  felt  like  that  Damocles  of  Syra 
cuse  who,  though  seated  on  a  throne,  was  yet 
immediately  under  a  faintly  suspended  sword. 
For  here  was  I,  on  a  throne,  indeed — the  throne 
of  dear  Lucy's  pure  and  constant  affection — and 
yet  ! — at  nuy  moment ! — 

Dramatically  enough,  the  sword  fell  on  my  very 
wedding  morning — on  its  flat  side,  happily — giv 
ing  me  a  shock,  but  no  cut  of  any  sort,  as  I  am 
now  briefly  going  to  tell. 

The  next  morning  came  another  telegram  from 
Brentin  in  London,  to  say  he  would  arrive  at  six 
and  beg  he  might  be  met.  All  was  well,  he  wired, 
adding  "  Any  news  Thompson?" 

I  wired  back  to  the  "Victoria"  there  was  none: 
"bring  boodle  with  you;"  and  then  I  went  off  and 
found  Thatcher. 

For  always  I  had  had  the  fancy  to  pay  old 
Crage  out  of  the  place  and  be  married  on  the 
same  day,  and  here  was  now  my  chance.  We 
were  to  be  married  in  Nesshaven  Church,  in  the 
grounds  of  Wharton  Park,  at  twelve  ;  what  was 
to  prevent  us,  I  said  to  Thatcher,  from  walking 
on  up  to  the  house  first  with  £30,000,  complet 
ing  the  purchase,  and  hasting  to  the  wedding  af 
terwards  ?  Thence  back  to  "  The  French  Horn  " 
for  a  light  lunch,  afterwards  catch  the  half-past- 
two  train  for  Liverpool  Street,  and  so  to  Folke 
stone  in  the  evening. 

There  was  nothing  to  prevent  it,  said  Thatcher, 
who  for  the  last  two  days  had  gone  about  in  a 

15 


triumphant,  bulging  white  waistcoat ;  only  it 
would  require  rather  delicate  handling,  all  to  be 
done  successfully.  Crage  should  be  prepared, 
for  instance,  he  thought ;  for,  notwithstanding 
the  sight  of  the  money,  the  sight  of  dear  Lucy 
in  her  happy  wedding  radiance  might  turn  him 
sour,  and  he  might  after  all  refuse  to  complete. 
What  was  to  prevent  one  of  us,  he  said — mean 
ing,  of  course,  me — going  up  to  the  house  and 
sounding  the  old  man  first  ?  Then  we  should 
know  exactly  how  we  stood,  and  what  chance 
there  was  of  our  money  being  accepted. 

Now,  for  the  last  Aveek  nothing  had  been  seen 
of  the  old  man,  and  rumors  had  reached  us,  chief 
ly  through  the  gardener,  he  was  very  ill.  He 
hadn't  been  to  church  for  more  than  a  month, 
and  at  church  he  had  always  been  a  very  regular 
attendant ;  not  so  much  because  he  had  any  real 
religion  in  him  as  that  he  might  aggravate  the 
parson  by  catching  him  up  loudly  in  the  re 
sponses,  and  barking  his  way  harshly  through 
the  hymns  a  good  half-line  behind  the  rest  of 
the  congregation.  Indeed,  the  chief  attraction, 
I  fear,  at  Nesshaven  Church  was  old  Crage  and 
his  nauseous  eccentricities,  and  people  who  had 
heard  how  he  had  once  lighted  up  his  pipe  dur 
ing  the  sermon  and  sat  there  sucking  at  it  in  the 
Wharton  pew,  came  from  miles  round  in  the  hope 
he  would  enliven  the  discourse  by  doing  it  again. 

Nor  had  he  been  seen  about  the  grounds,  nor 
stumping  down  to  the  inn,  as  he  mostly  did  once 
a  week  to  insult  the  inmates;  in  short,  the  end 
that  comes  to  us  all — good,  bad,  and  indifferent 


227 


— was  clearly  coming  now  to  him,  and  if  business 
were  ever  to  be  done,  it  must  be  done  speedily 
and  at  once. 

So,  before  Brentin  came,  early  on  the  Wednes 
day  afternoon,  I  trudged  alone  up  to  the  house. 
There  wasn't  a  sign  of  life  in  it,  and  when  I  rang 
at  the  hall  door  I  lieard  the  heavy  bell  clanging 
away  down  the  empty  passages  and  cold  servants' 
quarters  as  in  the  depths  of  an  Egyptian  tomb. 
I  rang  and  rang,  until  at  last  I  heard  shuffling 
footsteps  approach.  From  the  other  side  of  the 
door  came  stertorous  breathing  and  wheezing, 
and  the  undoing  of  a  chain  ;  then  a  burglar's  bell 
was  taken  off  and  fell  with  a  jangle  on  the  stone 
floor  inside,  and  at  last  the  door  was  pulled  ajar. 

Poor  old  Crage  !  He  looked  out  at  me  with 
his  wicked,  frightened  old  face,  pinched,  hag 
gard,  unshaven,  dirty ;  terror-struck,  as  though 
he  feared  ,1  were  Death  himself  who  had  been 
knocking  at  the  door.  He  was  in  his  shirt  and 
trousers  and  a  frowzy  old  dressing-gown,  and  his 
bare,  bony  feet  were  thrust  in  worn  leather  slip 
pers.  As  he  breathed  his  throat  rattled  dismally, 
and  his  long  hand,  with  the  thick,  muddy  veins, 
shook  so  he  couldn't  fold  the  dressing-gown 
round  his  gaunt,  corded,  bare  throat. 

"  Hullo,  young  cockney  !"he  croaked  ;  "what's 
to  do  ?" 

"  How  are  you,  Mr.  Crage  ?"  I  asked,  shocked 
at  the  old  man's  fallen,  forlorn  look. 

"  Very  bad  !"  he  whispered,  his  rheumy  eyes 
blinking  with  watery  self-pity. 

"Is  there  anybody  looking  after  you  ?" 


228 
"  No — no — thieves  !  all  thieves  ! — don't  want 

Then  he  made  as  if  he  would  shut  the  door. 

"I  came  up  to  see  you  on  business,"  I  said  ; 
"about  selling  the  house." 

"No  business  to-day,"  he  croaked.  "  Too  ill. 
Come  to-morrow — any  time.  Come  to-morrow." 
And  with  that  he  shut  the  door  in  my  face. 

I  heard  him  shuffling  away  across  the  hall,  kick 
ing  the  fallen  bell  with  a  tinkle  along  the  floor, 
and  then,  as  I  turned  to  go,  I  heard  him  fall  and 
groan.  I  ran  in  hastily,  and  with  great  difficul 
ty  managed  to  get  him  on  his  feet  again.  He 
stood  there  for  some  few  minutes,  clutching  me 
and  rattling  his  throat;  then,  hanging  011  my 
arm,  dragging  me  along  with  him,  he  paddled  off 
down  a  short  dark  passage  towards  a  half-open 
door,  pushed  it  wide,  and  pulled  me  after  him 
into  the  great  empty  drawing-room. 

The  blinds  were  down,  and  the  fading  Feb 
ruary  sun  gleamed  in  on  the  bare  worn  carpet. 
In  front  of  the  fine  fireplace,  with  a  little  dying 
wood-fire  in  it,  stood  an  arm-chair,  with  a  small 
table  beside  it.  A  candle  and  snuffers  were  on 
it,  and  a  plate  of  stale  bread-and-butter.  On  the 
high  mantel-piece  was  a  medicine  bottle,  full  and 
corked. 

He  sank  back  into  his  chair,  and  lay  there, 
breathing  heavily,  with  his  eyes  closed. 

"But  is  there  nobody  looking  after  you  ?"  I 
asked,  and  he  made  some  twitching  movement 
with  his  lingers. 

Just  at  that  moment  in  flounced  the  gardener's 


229 


wife,  drying  her  hands  on  her  apron.  She  was 
a  big,  handsome,  shameless  -  looking  creature, 
with  a  flaming  eye  and  a  hard,  high  color  on  her 
stiff  cheeks. 

"Now  you've  been  moving  yourself  about 
again  I"  she  cried,  bending  over  him. 

Crage  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  up  at  her 
maliciously. 

"He  came  up  on  business,"  he  whispered. 

"  You're  a  pretty  man  to  do  business,  ain't 
you  ?"  she  sneered. 

"No,  not  to-day,"  he  mocked.  "  Too  ill.  All 
right  to-morrow.  Tell  the  genelman  to  come 
to-morrow,  early.  Quite  well  to-morrow." 

I  turned  to  go,  and  Crage,  raising  himself  in 
his  chair,  rasped  out : 

"  Bring  the  money  with  you,  young  cockney, 
or  no  business.  Mind  that !" 

The  woman  followed  me  to  the  door. 

"  Has  he  got  a  doctor  ?"  I  asked. 

"Doctor  Hall  came  once,"  she  said,  "but  he 
won't  do  anything  he  tells  him.  He  won't  take 
his  medicine  and  he  won't  go  to  bed.  He  says 
he'll  die  if  he  goes  to  bed.  He  sleeps  all  night 
in  that  arm-chair  in  the  drawing-room.  If  he 
don't  die  soon,  I  shall ;  I  know  that  very  well. 
If  you've  got  any  business  to  do  with  him,  you'd 
better  come  early  in  the  morning.  He  can't  last 
much  longer." 

And  with  that  she  closed  the  door  on  me,  and 
I  heard  her  putting  up  the  chain  again  and  the 
burglar's  bell  as  I  went  away  down  the  weedy 
gravel-path. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

ARRIVAL  OP  BREXTIN — MY  WEDDING  -  DAY — WE  GO  TO 
WHARTON — BAILEY  THOMPSON  AND  COCHEFORT  FOL 
LOW  L'S— WE  FINALLY  DEFEAT  THEM  BOTH 

BRENTIX  was  in  ''The  French  Horn"  by  a 
quarter  to  seven,  and,  rather  to  my  surprise,  he 
came  alone.  I  thought  Hines  or  Masters  would 
surely  have  come  with  him  ;  but  no,  he  said,  ex 
cept  for  Forsyth,  they  had  all  parted  company  at 
Southampton.  Masters  and  Miss  Rybot  had 
gone  to  Sea  View,  where  they  were  to  be  married 
almost  immediately,  and  Hines  had  gone  off  to 
stay  with  a  married  sister  at  Bournemouth. 
Forsyth  alone  had  travelled  up  to  town  Avith  him, 
and  then  gone  on  straight  to  Colchester  to  take 
up  his  neglected  regimental  duties.  So  I  wrote 
out  a  telegram  to  be  sent  first  thing  in  the  morn 
ing,  begging  him  to  come  over  and  be  my  best 
man. 

And  the  boodle  ?  Brentin  winked  and,  with 
his  hands  on  his  knees,  began  to  laugh,  like  the 
priest  in  the  Bonne  Histoire. 

"Some  of  it  has  melted,  sir,"  he  joyously 
cried.  "  Your  friend  Hines  has  got  his,  and 
Mr.  Parsons,  by  this  time,  is  toying  with  ay  regis 
tered  letter  way  up  in  Southport.  I  have  hand- 


231 


somely  recompensed  Captain  Evans  and  the 
crew  ;  they  have,  no  doubt,  been  tanking-up  and 
painting  Portsmouth  red  all  the  time.  I  have 
reimbursed  myself  for  the  yacht  and  other  trifles, 
and  there  now  remains  the  £30,000  for  your 
young  lady's  ancestral  home,  and  some  £20,000 
for  the  hospitals  and  so  on.  To-morrow,  sir,  we 
will  draw  up  a  list  of  the  most  deserving  of 
them/' 

"  You  have  the  money  with  you  ?" 

"  Yes,"  he  said  ;  it  was  all  safe  in  what  he 
called  his  grip,  or  hand-bag,  and  quite  at  my 
service.  I  told  him  of  my  desire  to  complete  the 
purchase  immediately  before  the  marriage  was 
solemnized,  and  then  we  fell  to  talking  of  Bailey 
Thompson  and  his  strange  silence. 

"  AVhy,  the  man  is  piqued,  sir,"  said  Brentin  ; 
"that's  what  he  is,  piqued.  Beyond  saying 
that,  I  do  not  propose  to  give  him  ay  second 
thought.  He  is  mad  piqued,  and  that's  all  there 
is  to  it  !" 

So  I  tried  to  feel  completely  at  my  ease,  and 
managed  to  spend  a  very  happy  evening  in  the 
bar  parlor,  Lucy  playing  to  us  and  Brentin  occa 
sionally  bursting  into  raucous  song.  Now,  when 
I  think  of  him,  I  like  best  to  remember  him  as 
he  was  that  evening,  forgetting  his  harder,  com 
moner  side,  when  he  so  outrageously  proposed  to 
desert  poor  Teddy  ;  even  refusing  (as  I  forgot  at 
the  time  to  mention)  to  allow  the  cannon  to  be 
brought  into  play  for  his  rescue  by  shelling  the 
rooms.  He  was  infinitely  gay  and  amusing,  only 
finishing  up  the  evening,  after  dear  Lucy's  re- 


232 


tirement,  with  a  long  and  violent  dispute  with 
Mr.  Thatcher  on  the  vague  subject  of  the  im 
mortality  of  the  soul.  Thatcher  believed  he  had 
a  soul  and  would  live  forever,  in  another,  happier 
sphere ;  Brentin  denied  it,  could  see  no  sign  of 
Thatcher's  soul  anywhere  ;  so  I  left  them  try 
ing  to  shout  each  other  down,  both  speaking  at 
once. 

I  retired  to  rest  with  many  solemn,  touching 
thoughts.  The  last  night  of  bachelorhood  gives 
rise  to  at  least  as  much  deep  reflection  as  that  of 
the  young  maiden's  ;  more,  in  fact,  so  far  as  the 
bachelor  himself  is  concerned.  I  thought  over 
it  all  so  long  and  deeply  I  at  last  got  confused, 
and  when  I  woke,  the  bright  February  sun  was 
streaming  in  on  my  best  clothes  and  the  bells 
from  Nesshaven  Church  were  ringing, 

All  the  morning  those  bells  rang  out  their  hap 
py,  irregular  peal. 

"The  village  church  beneath  the  trees, 

Where  first  our  marriage  vows  were  given, 
With  merry  peal  shall  swell  the  breeze, 
And  point  with  slender  spire  to  heaven  !" 

Only,  to  be  exact,  Nesshaven  Church  has  no 
spire,  but  a  sunk,  old,  bird -haunted,  ivy -clad 
tower. 

It  was  Thatcher's  idea  to  set  the  bells  going 
early  and  keep  them  at  it  all  day ;  you  see,  they 
rang  not  only  for  the  marriage  of  his  only  child, 
but  for  his  return  to  their  ancestral  home  ;  and, 
when  they  showed  any  sign  of  flagging,  Thatcher 
listened  with  a  pained  expression,  and  cried, 


233 


"Why,  surely  there're  not  going  to  stop  yet! 
Run,  Bobby,  or  Harriet,  or  George,  my  man  !"- 
or  whoever  happened  to  be  handy — "and  tell 
'em  to  keep  'em  going,  and  give  'em  this  from 
me.  Here,  Vincent,  my  boy,  have  you  got  half- 
a- or  own  ?" 

By  ten  o'clock  we  were  all  dressed  and  ready, 
waiting  only  for  Forsyth.  Soon  after  ten  he 
came,  and  the  procession  started.  It  was  a  love 
ly  day  again,  mild  and  sunny,  and,  in  true  coun 
try-wedding  fashion,  we  all  set  out  to  walk. 
Lucy,  looking  perfectly  sweet  in  gray,  was  on  her 
father's  arm,  and  the  old  lady,  in  black  silk,  on 
mine  ;  while  Brentin,  carrying  his  grip,  with  the 
boodle  in  it,  and  that  good  little  chap,  Forsyth, 
brought  up  the  rear. 

The  old  lady,  who  within  the  last  three  months 
seemed  to  me  to  have  failed  a  good  deal,  men 
tally,  at  any  rate,  stepped  out  right  well,  hang 
ing  lightly  on  my  arm.  At  first  she  thought  we 
were  going  straight  to  the  church,  and  couldn't 
understand  why  we  left  it  on  our  right  and  went 
on  up  to  the  big  house.  Then  she  seemed  to 
think  it  quite  natural,  and  that  the  place  was  hers 
again,  and  began  talking  of  her  early  days,  when 
first  she  was  married  and  came  to  Wharton  as  a 
bride.  Once  or  twice,  indeed,  she  called  me 
"  Francis,"  her  husband's  name,  who  died  in 
1850,  and  drew  my  attention  to  the  scandalous, 
weedy  state  of  the  walks. 

"And  this  is  what  we  pay  good  wages  for  !'' 
she  cried.  "These  men  must  be  spoken  to  about 
it,  my  dear,  immediately." 


234 


The  gardener's  wife,  who  opened  for  us  the 
hall  door,  was  astonished  at  our  numbers. 

"  Why,  what  a  crowd  of  you  I"  she  said. 

The  old  lady  passed  her  haughtily. 

"  Come,  Tom  I"  she  cried  to  Mr.  Thatcher. 
"  We'll  go  up-stairs  and  have  tea  in  my  room. 
Come,  Lucy  I" 

And  up-stairs,  up  the  bare  stone  staircase,  they 
went,  for,  as  I  whispered  to  Thatcher,  it  was  just 
as  well  the  ladies  should  be  out  of  the  way  while 
we  did  our  business. 

In  the  great  empty  drawing-room  we  found  old 
Crage  ready  waiting  for  us.  He  had  dressed 
himself  up  in  rusty  attorney  black  for  the  occa 
sion,  and  the  plain  kitchen  -  table  was  neatly 
spread  with  bundles  of  documents,  title-deeds, 
and  so  forth. 

As  the  woman  showed  us  in,  she  told  me  he 
had  been  up  all  night  rummaging  in  his  old  tin 
boxes,  talking  and  mumbling  to  himself.  Now 
he  seemed  quite  spry  and  well  again.  I  could 
scarcely  believe,  as  he  sat  there  alert  and  atten 
tive,  he  was  the  same  stricken,  shambling  old 
hunks  I  had  seen  the  previous  afternoon,  drag 
ging  himself  about,  senile  and  dying.  Such  is 
the  power  of  the  will  and  the  business  instinct, 
prolonged  even  to  the  verge  of  the  grave  ! 

Brentin,  who,  as  usual,  took  everything  into 
his  own  hands,  adopted  the  simplest  method  of 
dealing  with  him.  Crage  received  us  in  complete 
silence,  and  no  one  spoke  a  word,  while  Bren 
tin  opened  his  grip  and  took  out  the  notes  and 
two  or  three  little  bags  of  gold.  The  gold  he 


235 


emptied  into  heaps  and  piled  them  round  the 
notes. 

Then,  "  Thirty  thousand  pounds/'  he  said, 
with  a  smile — "thirty  thousand  pounds  !  Is  it 
a  deal  ?" 

Crage  sat  bolt  upright,  with  his  hand  curved 
over  his  ear. 

"For  the  entire  property  ?"  he  asked. 

"For  the  entire  property.  Is  it  a  deal? 
Thirty  thousand  pounds,  neither  less  nor  more." 
And  he  emptied  the  grip  and  shook  it,  to  show 
that  not  a  penny  more  remained. 

"It's  worth  more  in  the  open  market,"  said 
Crage,  cautiously. 

"  Then  take  it  to  the  open  market.  We  have 
no  time  to  haggle.  My  client  is  on  his  way  to 
be  married.  Good -day."  And  with  that  he 
began  to  scrape  the  notes  and  gold  together 
again. 

"  Hold  hard  !"  cried  Crage.  "  Don't  hurry  an 
old  man." 

"  We'll  give  the  old  man  three  minutes,"  said 
Brentin,  coolly  pulling  out  his  watch. 

We  were  all  three  of  us  grouped  round  the 
table,  watching  Crage,  with  our  backs  to  the 
door.  The  woman  stood  at  his  elbow,  and  we 
could,  in  the  complete  silence,  hear  the  heavy, 
swinging  tick -tick  of  Brentin's  large  old-fash 
ioned  watch. 

"  Half  time  !"  cried  Brentin,  when  suddenly 
we  heard  steps  outside  in  the  hall.  I  had  just 
time  to  recognize  Bailey  Thompson's  even,  di 
visional  tread,  when  he  pushed  the  door  open 


230 


and  stepped  in.  He  was  dressed  as  usual,  and 
behind  him  came  a  gentleman  in  a  tight  black 
frock-coat,  an  evident  Frenchman,  thin,  dark, 
and  wiry,  with  a  withered  face,  like  a  preserved 
Bordeaux  plum. 

"  One  moment,  if — you — please,  gentlemen  !" 
cried  Bailey  Thompson,  as  he  stepped  up  to  the 
table. 

My  heart  gave  a  bound,  and  Forsyth  started 
and  said,  "Ho!"  but  the  unabashed  Brentin 
merely  politely  replied,  "  One  moment  to  you, 
sir.  We  will  attend  to  you  directly. — Time's  up, 
Mr.  Crage  !  is  it  or  is  it  not  a  deal  ?" 

Bailey  Thompson  laughed.  "  Cool  as  ever, 
Mr.  Brentin,  I  see,"  he  said.  "But  don't  you 
think  this  amusing  farce  of  yours  has  gone  on 
long  enough  ?  It  has  been  successful  so  far,  as 
I  always  thought  it  would  be  !" 

"  You're  mighty  good  !" 

"We  have  no  desire  to  be  unduly  hard  on 
you." 

"  You  are  mighty  particular  good  !" 

"The  Casino  authorities  are,  on  the  whole, 
willing  to  regard  you  as  eccentric  English  gentle 
men  of  position,  Avho  have  played  a  very  cruel 
practical  joke  on  them." 

"That 'so?" 

"  That  is  so.  This  is  their  representative, 
Mossieu  Cochefort." 

"  Encliantay  !"  cried  Brentin,  with  a  bow. 

"He  is  charged  to  say  that,  on  the  due  return 
of  the  money  you  have  sto — ahem  ! — -carried  off, 
and  an  undertaking  from  you  in  writing  that 


237 


yon  none  of  yon  ever  visit  the  place  again,  on 
any  pretence,  they  are  willing  to  forego  criminal 
proceedings,  and  no  further  questions  will  be 
asked." 

"  Oh,  come  off  it  I"  cried  Brentin,  laughing. 

"  Otherwise,"  continued  Bailey  Thompson, 
with  great  gravity,  "  I  must  ask  yon,  Mr.  Blacker, 
and  Mr.  Forsyth  here,  to  follow  me  to  the  cab  in 
waiting  at  the  door,  and  return  with  us  to  Lon 
don  as  our  prisoners." 

"In  short,  sir,"  said  Brentin,  swelling  with 
indignant  importance,  "you  invite  us,  eccentric 
gentlemen  of  recognized  position,  to  compound 
a  felony  !" 

Thompson  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  Mossieu 
Cochefort  looked  puzzled. 

"  Be  ashamed  of  yourself,  sir  !"  Brentin  cried, 
his  voice  ringing  scornfully  through  the  empty 
room.  "  Be  ashamed  of  yourselves,  you  and 
Mossieu  Cochefort,  and  give  over  talking  through 
your  hat  !  Mr.  Crage,  if  you  will  write  out  a 
formal  receipt  we  will  look  upon  the  affair  as 
settled.  The  formal  transfer  can  be  effected 
later." 

"Aye,  aye!"  mumbled  Crage,  and,  with  his 
eyes  011  the  money,  began  fumbling  in  the  inside 
pocket  of  his  rusty  black  coat  for  the  receipt. 

"Gentlemen  !"  cried  Thompson,  with  affected 
earnestness,  "  I  warn  you  !  I  very  solemnly  warn 
you- 

"  Oh,  come  off  it,  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson,  sir  !" 
was  Brentin's  emphatic  and  withering  reply ; 
"  come  off  it,  and  shut  your  head.  We  have  long 


had  enough  of  you  and  your  gas.  For  my  part, 
my  earnest  advice  to  you  and  Mossieu  Gochefort 
is  that  you  kiss  yourselves  good-bye  and  go  your 
several  ways.  And  tell  your  amazing  Casino 
Company  from  us  that  the  only  undertaking  we 
will  give  them  is  not  to  come  and  do  it  again  in 
the  fall.  To  repeat  a  success  is  always  danger 
ous  ;  and  next  time,  no  doubt,  you  will  all  be 
better  prepared. — Xow,  Mr.  Crage,  the  receipt !" 

"  Qu'est  ce  qu'il  a  dit?"  asked  the  puzzled 
Frenchman,  as  Thompson,  fuming  and  fretting, 
dragged  him  off  to  the  window  to  explain. 

Meantime  old  Crage  had  produced  his  receipt, 
already  written  and  signed,  and,  handing  it  over, 
with  trembling,  eager  fingers  was  beginning  to 
count  the  notes. 

"  Ten  fifties — ten  thousands — ten-  twenties," 
he  was  mumbling,  "  nice  clean  notes  —  beauti 
ful  crisp  notes — he  won't  get  'em  back  from  me, 
if  that's  what  he's  after  !  Xo,  no,  not  from 
Crage.  Crage  wasn't  in  Clement's  Inn  for  forty 
years  for  nothing.  Ten  more  fifties  ! — "  So  he 
went  on  mumbling  to  himself,  and  stuffing  tbe 
notes  away  in  a  broken  old  pocket-book,  while 
Brentin  handed  me  over  the  receipt,  and  snapped 
his  grip  with  a  click. 

"It's  all  right,"  he  whispered.  "AAVve  bluffed 
'em.  Keep  cool." 

"Hadn't  you  better  let  me  keep 'em  for  you  !" 
whined  the  woman,  bending  over  C rage's  chair. 
"You'll  only  lose  'em.  Give  'em  me  to  take 
care  of  for  you,  there's  a  dearie  !" 

To  which  pathetic  appeal  the  old  man  paid  no 


'239 


sort  of  heed,  but  pushed  the  pocket-book  into 
his  inside  breast-pocket,  with  many  senile  signs 
of  satisfaction  and  joy. 

"  And  now  !"  cried  Brentin,  in  imperturbable 
high  spirits,  "the  wedding- procession  will  re 
form,  and  proceed  to  the  church  for  the  tying 
of  the  sacred  knot.  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson — 
Mossien  Cochefort — we  shall  be  glad  if  you  will 
join  us,  and  afterwards,  at  "The  French  Horn," 
to  a  slight  but  high-toned  repast.  Good-day, 
Mr.  Crage ;  take  care  of  yourself  and  your 
money.  Let  ns  hope  that  when  the  robins  nest 
they  will  find  you  in  your  usual  ro-bust  health. 
Mossieu  Cochefort  —  Mr.  Bailey  Thompson  —  if 
you  will  kindly  follow  us — 

But  a  sudden  access  of  fury  seemed  to  have 
seized  the  usually  cairn  little  detective  ',  he  was 
stamping  his  feet,  waving  his  arms,  almost  foam 
ing  at  the  mouth. 

In  execrable  French,  Stratford-atte-Bow-Street 
French,  he  began  to  swear  aloud  he  would  have 
nothing  more  to  do  with  it,  that  he  had  done  his 
best,  that  he  had  never  yet  had  dealings  with 
the  French  police  but  they  hadn't  muddled  it ; 
for  his  part,  his  work  was  finished,  and  he  was 
going  home. 

"Here  they  are  !"  he  cried,  "three  of  them, 
all  ready  for  you,  Will  you  have  them,  or  won't 
you  ?  Les  voilar  !  Nong  ?  Vous  ne  les  voulay 
pas?  Then  if  you  don't  want  them,  why  the 
"  (dreadful  bad  word  !)  "did  you  bring  me 
off  down  here  ?"  he  yelled,  breaking  into  pro 
fane  English. 


240 


"Mais,  voyons. f  voyons!"  murmured  the  star 
tled  and  conciliatory  Cochefort. 

"Damn  your  voyons!"  Bailey  Thompson 
screamed.  "  If  you  don't  want  them,  and  won't 
take  them,  do  the  rest  of  it  yourself,  the  best 
way  .you  can.  I  wash  my  hands  of  it.  Good- 
day,  gentlemen,  and  thank  your  lucky  stars  for 
the  imbecility  of  the  French  police  !"  and  with 
that  he  rushed  to  the  door,  through  the  hall, 
and  out  into  his  cab.  As  he  pulled  the  hall 
door  open  I  heard  the  wedding-bells  come  surg 
ing  in  with  a  new  burst  of  joy. 

"  Mais,  mon  ami!"  cried  Cochefort,  as  Thomp 
son  tore  himself  away,  "  ne  me  laissez  pas  comme 
fa!"  and  with  much  gesticulation  prepared  to 
follow. 

But  Brentin  sagely  stopped,  him.  "  Rcstay, 
Mossieu  Cochefort !"  he  said,  graciously  ;  "Rcstay 
avec  nous.  Tout  va  biana.  Restay !" 

"Mais,  quel  cochon!"  cried  the  angry  Coche 
fort,  stretching  out  his  black  kid  hands,  and 
shaking  them  in  Bailey  Thompson's  direction. 
"Ma  parole  d'honneur  !  a  t'on  janiais  vu  un 
parcil  sacre  cochou !" 

"  C'est  vrai  /"  said  Brentin.  "Mais  il  cst 
toujours  comme  qa.  Vous  savvy,  il  n'est  pas 
yentilhoinme.  Nous  sommes  tons  gentilhommes. 
Nous  vous  (jarderong  et  vous  traiterong  tray  l)iany. 
Restay  !" 

So  Mossieu  Cochefort  allowed  himself  to  be 
comforted,  and  restay'd.  We  took  him  with  us 
to  the  church,  and  did  him  right  well  at  lunch, 
and  then,  so  forlorn  and  downcast  the  poor 


241 


creature  seemed,  Lucy  and  I  carried  him  off 
with  us  up  to  town,  if  only  out  of  kindness,  to 
put  him  on  his  way  back  to  Monaco. 

On  the  way  up  in  the  train  he  confessed  to 
me  his  only  instructions  had  been  to  try  and  get 
the  money  back,  and  that  if  he  couldn't  manage 
that,  or  part  of  it,  he  was  directed  not  to  think 
of  embarrassing  the  authorities  by  taking  us  all 
in  charge.  I  could  conceive,  he  said,  that  the 
authorities  didn't  want  to  be  made  the  laughing 
stock  of  Europe  by  having  to  try  us,  nor  to  add 
to  their  already  heavy  expenses  by  keeping  us  in 
prison — nearly  all  quite  young  men — for  the 
term  of  our  natural  lives.  He  hadn't  been  able 
fully  to  explain  all  this  to  Bailey  Thompson  :  the 
man  was  such  a  lunatic,  he  said,  and  so  obsti 
nate  :  and  besides,  from  the  moment  of  his 
arrival  Bailey  Thompson  had  ridden  the  high 
horse  over  him,  and  proudly  declaring  he  didn't 
require  to  be  taught  his  duties  by  a  foreigner, 
had  immediately  carried  him  off  down  to  Xess- 
haven,  scarcely  allowing  him  once  to  open  his 
mouth  all  the  way. 

At  Liverpool  Street  he  seemed  more  lost,  poor 
wretch,  than  ever.  He  knew  no  single  word  of 
English,  and  looked  at  us  so  pathetically,  as  we 
stood  on  the  platform  together,  our  soft  hearts 
were  touched.  So  we  made  up  our  minds  to 
carry  him  along  with  us  to  Folkestone,  dine  him 
at  the  "  Pavilion/'  and  afterwards  see  him  safe 
on  board  the  night-boat  for  Boulogne. 

It  was  droll,  all  the  same,  this  carrying  a  French 
detective  about  with  us  on  our  wedding-day;  but 

16 


the  man  was  so  truly  grateful  I  have  never  re 
gretted  it.  We  gave  him  a  good  dinner  at  the 
hotel,  and  at  ten  o'clock  walked  him  out  on 
to  the  pier  for  his  boat.  He  made  me  a  little 
speech  at  parting,  declaring  I  had  treated  him 
"en  vrai  camarade,"  and  that  if  ever  I  wanted 
to  come  to  Monte  Carlo  again  I  was  to  let  him 
know  and  he  would  see  I  came  to  no  harm.  To 
Lucy  he  presented  all  his  compliments  and  felic 
itations  on  securing  the  affection  of  "  un  si 
galant  homme!"  and  then,  with  a  twenty-pound 
note  I  slipped  into  his  hand  at  parting,  bowed 
himself  away,  and  was  soon  lost  to  sight  in  the 
purlieus  of  the  second  cabin,  whither  he  went 
prepared  to  be  dreadfully  sick,  smooth  and  calm 
as  the  night  was. 

As  Lucy  and  I  strolled  back  to  the  hotel,  arm- 
in-arm,  we  both  were  silent. 

At  last,  just  as  we  got  back  and  heard  the 
steamer's  final  clanging  bell  and  despairing  whis 
tle,  "  I  can't  make  out,  really,  whether  you've 
all  done  right  or  wrong,"  she  whispered,  softly; 
"but  this  I  know,  dearest,  you  have  been  most 
extraordinarily  lucky." 

To  which  simple  little  speech  I  merely  pressed 
her  arm,  by  way  of  showing  how  thoroughly  I 
agreed  with  her. 


CONCLUSION 

THIS  is  the  true  account  of  our  raiding  the 
tables  at  Monte  Carlo,  done  the  best  way  I  could. 

For  the  rest,  I  may  just  mention  poor  old  Crage 
died  before  the  end  of  the  month,  and  by  Easter 
Mr.  Thatcher  and  his  mother  were  safely  installed 
in  Wharton  Park.  Arthur  Masters  was  married 
to  Miss  Eybot  in  April,  Forsyth  is  to  do  the  same 
to  a  widow  (so  he  says)  in  September,  Bob  Hines 
is  very  flourishing  with  his  new  gymnasium  and 
swimming-bath — just  about  finished  now,  as  I 
write,  at  the  end  of  June — and  Parsons  is,  I  be 
lieve,  at  Southport,  parading  Lord  Street  as  usu 
al  in  breeches  and  gaiters. 

As  for  Breutin,  I  never  saw  him  again,  for  by 
the  time  Lucy  and  I  had  returned  from  our 
honeymoon  lie  was  back  in  New  York.  But  I 
heard  from  him  the  other  day — a  long,  rambling 
letter,  in  which  he  told  me  he  had  sold  the  Ama 
ranth  to  Van  Ginkel,  for  his  wife  the  Princess 
Danleno,  whom  he  had  remarried,  and  with 
whom,  on  separate  vessels,  he  was  sailing  about 
the  Greek  Archipelago  —  probably  in  belated 
search  for  Bailey  Thompson.  He  concluded 
by  begging  me  to  think  of  something  "  snappy  " 
we  could  do  together  in  the  fall,  ending  finally 


by  writing  :  "  What's  the  matter  with  our  going 
to  Egypt  and  turning  the  Nile  into  the  Keel  Sea  ? 
A  communicative  stranger,  an  Englishman,  by  his 
accent,  assures  me  there  is  just  one  place  where 
it  can  be  done.  Think  it  over,  sonny,  and  if  you 
decide  to  do  it,  count  on  me.  Sincerely,  JULIUS 
C.  BREXTIX." 

I  would  write  more,  only  Lucy  is  calling  to  me 
from  the  hay-field,  the  other  side  of  the  ha-ha  of 
Wharton,  where  I  have  come  to  finish  this  work 
in  retirement. 

"Around  my  ivied  porch  shall  cling 

Each  fragrant  flower  that  drinks  the  dew, 
And  Lucy  at  her  wheel  shall  sing 
In  russet  gown  with  'kerchief  blue." 

As  my  dear  Lucy  says,  I  really  am,  and  always 
have  been,  a  most  extraordinarily  lucky  man. 


THE    END 


000125241 


